THE 

m 

SHEWING 

THE NATURE 

OF THE 

By that eminent and faithful minister of Jesus Christ, the 

' REV. RICHARD BAXTER. 



ABRIDGED BY 

THOMAS RUTHERFORD. 



Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when be cometh, shall find so 
doing. — Luke. 

They that turn many to righteousness, shall shine as the stars for ever 
and ever. — Daniel, 



NEW-YORK: 

PRINTED AND SOLD BY JOHN C. TOTTEN, 
Jso 9 Bowery. 



1821. H 



1 

ADVERTISEMENT 

EY THE EDITOR. 



I hope mv dear brethren in the ministry will 
>xcuse me for taking the liberty of earnestly re- 
commending to their serious attention and careful 
perusal, the following tract. I intend it more es- 
pecially for the younger preachers in the Me- 
thodist Connexion : those who, comparatively, 
__*ve been but a short time in the work, and those 
tvho from year to year, are entering into the 
Lor^ ? s vineyard ; though I am certain that there 
is not a preacher in the connexion, nor a minister 
in Britain, of any denomination, whatever his 
learning, his abilities, or his rank and standing in 
the church may be, but has need to attend to it, 
and may derive much benefit from it. — Above thirty 
years as;o, a verv respectable and ased minister of 
the church of Scotland, in the neighbourhood of 
Perth, told me, that he knew no minister whp 
could read Baxters Reformed Pastor, without be- 
ing covered with hame and confusion, except Mr- 
Wesley. 



IV , ADVERTISEMENT. 

The pious and venerable author of this book, 
shews what sort of men ministers ought to be, in 
spirit, in conversation, in life, and doctrine; the 
greatness of the work which they have to do, 
and how every part of it must be performed : and 
this he does in such a pointed and convincing man- 
ner, that it is hardly possible for any to read it, 
who are at all sensible of the importance of the 
ministerial character and work, without being 
roused and quickened to greater zeal and dili- 
gence. In many parts the language is most search- 
ing and powerful : it pierces and cuts like a two- 
edged sword : so that he who does not feel it, and 
sensibly too, must be almost past feeling. And yet 
he does not over-rate the work. No ; it is as ex- 
tensive, as various, as necessary, and as important 
in every respect, as he represents it. Indeed its 
importance cannot be told ; it far exceeds all hu- 
man comprehension. The man is yet unborn who 
duly considers the worth of immortal souls. He 
only knows their worth who bought them with his 
blood. 

The real excellence of this book recommends 
it to every man's conscience in the sight of God ; 
and in my humble opinion is such, that every 
minister, and in particular, every Methodist preach- 
er, ought to make it a kind of pocket companion, 
to read it frequently, examine himself by it, and 
endeavour to live, preach, and labour for the sal- 



ADVERTISEMENT. V 

vation of souls as it directs. Were we to do so, 
what zealous, faithful, and indefatigable men 
should we be. Our profiting and our usefulness 
would appear unto all : for we should bestir our- 
selves in another manner, and do much more for 
the advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom, and 
the increase of religion among our people than, in 
general, we do. — Brethren, lay your hand upon 
your heart, and ask yourselves, as in the presence 
of God, Is not all this necessary? Is it not what 
we are called (yea, engaged) to do ? And ought 
not we, in the name and strength of the Lord, to 
strive by every means, and in every possible 
way, to promote this work ? Ought we not to 
be instant in season and out of season ? Yea, 
ought we not to spend and be spent therein, see- 
ing that we publicly profess, that our business is 
to save all the souls we can ? — " You have noth- 
ing to do but save souls : therefore spend and be 
spent in this work. Observe, it is not your bu- 
siness to preach so many times, and to take care 
merely of this or that society, but to save as many 
souls as you can ; to bring as many lost sinners as 
you possibly can to repentance, and with all your 
power to build them up in that holiness, without 
which they cannot see the Lord." 

But besides the intrinsic excellence of this trea- 
tise, it is peculiarly necessary for ministers, and 

a 2 



VI ADVERTISEMENT* 

particularly for those in our connexion at this time, 
for several reasons. 

I. Many are very active in spreading infidelity, 
turning the blessed word of God and the sacred 
work of the ministry into matter of ridicule ; rep- 
resenting the one as a cunningly devised fable, 
and the other as mere priestcraft, designed only 
to shackle and impose upon the people. And oth- 
ers, with a great deal of art and plausibility, are 
no less zealous in propagating doctrines, which, if 
not immediately connected with infidelity, yet by 
direct and easy steps lead to it ; and, to say the 
least of them, they totally sap the foundations of 
genuine and vitpl Christianity. I mean Arianism 
and Socinianism. Hence the essential doctrines of 
the gospel, viz. the doctrine of the holy and ever 
blessed Trinity, the universal and total depravity 
of human nature, the great and glorious work of 
atonement by Jesus Christ, justification by faith, 
and the whole work of the Spirit in the soul, are 
represented as the corruptions of Christianity. — 
But if we must give up all these as corruptions, 
I should be glad to know what of Christianity we 
shall retain : in my opinion, nothing that deserves 
the name. 

II. There is a species of refined and bewitching 
Antomianism preached by some, which has a di- 
rect and powerful tendency to mislead and en- 
snare those who hear it, leading them to believe 



ADVERTISEMENT. Vll 

that they must necessarily sin ; or, which is the 
same, that they cannot avoid committing sin, and 
being sometimes overcome by it ; that sin will do 
them little harm : and therefore it leads them to be 
at case in their sins, crying, " Peace, peace, when 
there is no peace." Or if they have religion, it 
makes them content with very low attainments ; 
effectually keeping them from forgetting the things 
which are behind, reaching forth unto those things 
which are before, and pressing towards the mark 
for the prize of their high calling of God in Christ 
Jesus. 

The preachers of this stamp, preach almost ex- 
clusively to believers ; and a great part of what 
they say to them, is to tell them how safe they 
are ; yea, that they are as safe, though not as hap- 
py, as the saints in heaven. They may fall, — to 
be sure they may fall as foully as Peter, or even 
David : but what then ? It is tacitly intimated that 
such falls can do them no real injury ; because, 
however egregiously they may fall, they cannot 
be lost, but shall rise again, and praise God louder 
in heaven for their falls. — They say little on the 
subject of christain duties : seldom, and in a very 
vague and superficial manner, exhort believers to 
" be zealous of good works, to watch and pray al- 
ways, to deny themselves, take up their cross 
daily, and follow Christ ; to give all diligence to 
make their calling and election sure, by adding 



V1I1 ADVERTISEMENT. 

to their faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, pa- 
tience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and char- 
ity." These savour too much of legality, and 
working for life, of which they are dreadfully 
afraid. On the contrary, they insinuate, (or per- 
haps tell them in plain English) that their salvation 
is finished, that Christ has done all, and that all, 
or at least the principal part, of what they are 
called to, is to believe that they have nothing to do. 

This is a most dangerous and flesh-pleasing 
gospel, and wherever it is preached, cannot fail of 
being attended with the most fatal consequences 
to those who sit under such a syren song, and 
believe what they hear : for it says more to en- 
courage sin, and to make men be at ease in their 
sins, than to promote holiness. Hence, while it 
pretends, and, in words, appears to exalt and 
honour Christ, it in fact rejects him, crucifies him 
afresh, and puts him to open shame. 

Sometime ago, being peculiarly situated, I heard 
a popular preacher of this sort for several weeks, 
always once, and sometimes twice a week, who 
uniformly preached in the manner I have describ- 
ed. His hearers, both on the sabbath and week 
day evenings, were numerous and genteel ; and, 
without any violation of charity, there was too 
much reason to fear, that in matters of religion, 
many of them did not know their right hand from 
their left. Notwithstanding, he scarce ever drop- 



ADVERTISEMENT. IX 

ped a word to unawakened and impenitent sinners, 
unless sometimes a sentence or two at the close 
of his discourse, telling them what a miserable 
state they were in. But all the times I heard him, 
he never once set life and death before them ; 
never told them how to escape the wrath to come, 
and how to be saved ; never explained the nature 
of repentance, nor exhorted them to repent ; never 
shewed them how to come to Christ ; nor inferred 
the necessity of the new birth. In short, he 
preached as if he had no message to impenitent 
sinners, and therefore had nothing to do with 
the unconverted. I confess I was astonished at 
the strain and manner in which he preached, 
and could not help both thinking and saying, — 
This is another gospel — this is not the way in 
which the prophets, our blessed Lord, and his 
apostles preached. The prophets cried to sin- 
ners, " Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, 
for why will ye die ? Cease to do evil, learn to 
do well. Seek ye the Lord while he may be 
found, call ye upon him while he is near. Let 
the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous 
man his thoughts, and let him return unto the 
Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to 
our God, for he will abundantly pardon." — Our 
Lord warned sinners to " flee from the wrath to 
come," called them to " repent and believe the 
gospel," and exhorted them to " strive to enter 



X ADVERTISEMENT. 

in at the strait gate ;" to " ask, seek, knock; 5 ' 
to " watch and pray always ;" to "be importu- 
nate with God" yea, to " take the kingdom of 
heaven by force;" to " labour for the meat 
which endureth to eternal life ;" and to " deny 
themselves, take up their cross daily, and follow 
him, without which they could not be his disci- 
ples." — He told them again and again, that " ex- 
cept they were converted, and became as little 
children, they could not enter into the kingdom of 
heaven ;" and that " they must be born again," — 
St. Paul was sent to the " gentiles to open their 
eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and 
from the power of Satan unto God, that they 
might receive forgiveness of sins, and an inherit- 
ance among them that are sanctified by faith which 
is in Christ Jesus." — To jews and gentiles he 
preached " repentance towards God, and faith in 
our Lord Jesus Christ ; warning every man, and 
teaching every man, in all wisdom, with prayers 
and tears, both night and day." He faithfully tes- 
tified to sinners of every description, " There 
is no respect of persons with God. He will ren- 
der to every man according to his deeds. To 
them that seek for glory, honour, and immortality, 
eternal life ; but to them who are contentious, and 
obey not the truth, but have pleasure in unright- 
eousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and 
anguish, to every soul that doeth evil, to the jew 



ADVERTISEMENT. XI 

first, and also to the gentile." — He cried aloud, 
u Be not deceived, God is not mocked, whatso- 
ever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. He 
that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap 
corruption; and he that soweth to the Spirit, shall 
of the Spirit reap life everlasting. Awake, thou 
that sleepeth ; arise from the dead, and Christ 
shall give thee light. Awake to righteousness, and 
sin not. — Knowing the terrors of the Lord, he 
persuaded men" to repent and turn from their 
sins, and prepare to appear before the judgment- 
seat of Christ. And as an ambassador of the Lord 
Jesus, to whom was " committed the ministry of 
reconciliation," in his name, and in his stead, he 
" besought sinners to be reconciled unto God," 
and" travailed in birth for them till Christ was 
formed in them."— How different is this preaching 
from that mentioned above, and what different 
effects is it calculated to produce ! 

III. There is a kind of modish, superficial, 
pointless preaching, practised by some, which I 
fear several of our young preachers are in danger 
of falling into. This preaching is, for the most 
part sensible, pretty, and not foreign to the subject 
in hand ; neither is it mere morality, but has a 
tincture of the gospel ; yea, in general, it contains 
the truth, but not the whole truth ; not the truth 
ia its native and proper dress, nor directed and 



Xll ADVERTISEMENT. 

applied, as it ought to be, to its grand and proper 
end. It is defective in the following respects. 

1. It wants depth, weight, spirituality, and point. 
There is, comparatively, little in it for solid and 
useful instruction ; and almost nothing, to awaken, 
fasten upon, and affect the hearers. It passes 
aw r ay as a tale that is told, or as water spilt on the 
ground, and leaves them dull and unmoved. — 
Though many may be pleased with it, and highly 
applaud it as excellent preaching, (for many love 
smooth things) yet the more judicious and spirit- 
ual part of the hearers look up, and are not fed. 
They find it to be light food. It does not nourish, 
comfort, and strengthen their souls. 

2. It wants more of the spirit and marrow of 
the gospel ; more of Christ and of the Holy Ghost. 
He is not clearly, strongly, and constantly exhib- 
ited as the only foundation and end of all our hopes 
— the Alpha and the Omega — the all in all : nor 
his Spirit, as that divine agent who alone works in 
us all that is good, all that is holy and well pleas- 
ing in the sight of God, and who disposes and 
enables us both to will and to do of his good 
pleasure. And that preaching which does not 

freely and fully dispense the bread of life, must 
necessarily, so far, be attended with barrenness, 
leanness, and death. 

3. It is not sufficiently close and practical.— 
The preachers of this stamp study their sermons 



ADVERTISEMENT. jXlll 

without studying the people to whom they are 
to preach them. Hence their preaching, though 
good in the main, is not suited to the states and 
wants of their hearers. They either speak of 
things at a distance, or else in such a way that the 
people do not feel themselves much interested in 
what is delivered. Their words do not come 
home, do not reach the hearts and consciences of 
those to whom they speak ; but fall, like point- 
less arrows, short of the mark. 

The chief causes of this sort of preaching, are, 
(1.) Want of simplicity. — (2.) A desire of popular- 
ity ; to be thought fine, or great preachers, and 
rather to please than profit. — (3.) The w T ant of a 
proper sense of the greatness and design of the 
work of the ministry ; which is for the sole pur- 
pose of bringing lost sinners to Christ, building 
them up in faith and love, and assisting them to 
get safe to heaven. Let a preacher only have 
his mind deeply impressed with the value of im- 
mortal souls, their miserable and alarming state, 
and that he is appointed by the Lord, a watchman 
and a shepherd, to warn them of their danger, 
gather them unto the fold of the Lord Jesus, and 
lead and feed them according as he hath directed 
in his holy word, w T hich, if he neglect to do, and 
they perish through his negligence, their blood 
will be required at his hand ; I say, let him only 
feel these things as he ought, and he will no 

B 



XIV ADVERTISEMENT. 

longer continue a superficial, smooth, and easy 
preacher ; but will quickly become serious, deep, 
lively, and spiritual — a man of weight and fire. — 
(4.) The state of discipline in the christian church. 
This has seldom, if ever been more neglected than 
it is in the present day, by almost every denomi- 
nation of professing christians. Whoever will be 
at the pains to compare the discipline enjoined 
by our Lord, and exercised by his apostles and 
their successors for four hundred years ; as also 
that which Mr. Baxter so strenuously enforces 
in the following treatise, and which he and others 
exercised in their several parishes and congrega- 
tions ; I say, whoever will compare these with 
the discipline which is at present in use, must 
see in the most clear and convincing light, what a 
low and neglected state it is in, and how very little 
care is taken to purge and keep clean the floor 
of Christ. Among many, there is scarce a shred 
of what can properly be called discipline, main- 
tained. Chapels are built, various ministers are 
appointed to preach in those chapels, persons take 
seats, and so become stated hearers, and then re- 
ceive a note or token to admit them to the Lord's 
supper. This, if I am not mistaken, is most of 
the discipline that is observed by many. How 
few take care to know all their flock, that they 
may take heed to them all, and give unto each his 
portion in due season. How little is done in the 



ADVERTISEMENT. XV 

way of catechising, personal instruction, and 
teaching from house to house ; at least, in that 
spirit and manner in which it must be done, in 
order to answer the great purposes for which it is 
intended. How few in that respect are instant in 
season and out of season, reproving, rebuking, and 
exhorting with all long suffering and doctrine. 
How frequently do we suffer sin in our brother ; 
tmd how seldom are those who sin openly, rebuked 
before all, that others also may fear. — Surely the 
Lord may justly take up the same complaint against 
many of us, which he did against the shepherds 
of Israel in the days of the prophet Ezekiel, say- 
ing, " Ye feed not the flock. The diseased have 
ye not strengthened ; neither have j^e healed that 
which was sick ; neither have ye bound up that 
which was broken ; neither have ye brought again 
that which was driven away ; neither have ye 
sought that which was lost." It is to be feared 
that many hardly consider discipline as any part of 
the ministerial work ; whereas it is plain from the 
word of God, that it is a most necessary and im- 
portant part of the work of every one who has 
the care of souls ; without which their public 
preaching, however excellent, will avail compar- 
atively little, especially towards promoting deep 
and permanant godliness. 

My dear brethren, must not we plead guilty in 
this matter ? Our economy is admirably calculated 



3^i ADVERTISEMENT. 

to separate the precious from the vile, and for pre- 
serving our societies pure. Indeed if preachers 
and leaders did but unitedly and steadily maintain 
our rules of discipline, no person who does not 
walk as becomes the gospel, could continue a mem- 
ber of our society. But, alas, have we not suffered 
the hedge in parts to be broken down, and even 
trodden under foot ? Is not this evil increasing 
among us ? I know many, both preachers and 
people, see and deplore it ; but what is done to 
prevent and cure it ? It would be easy to de- 
scend to particulars ; but to you this is unnecessa- 
ry. To be fully convinced of the sin, which in 
this respect lieth at our door, we need only read 
over our General Minutes, which contain the 
form of discipline established among us, and which 
every preacher, on his being received into full 
connexion, solemnly and publicly engages to main- 
tain. 

For these reasons, as well as others that might 
be adduced, the following tract is highly necessary 
for ministers at this time ; and if properly attended 
te> will, by the divine blessing, effectually pre- 
serve them from all the above evils. If they 
practise what in the most plain and forcible manner 
they are therein taught, they will be preserved 
from every species of infidelity : for they will 
heartily believe and love the holy scriptures, which 
will be to them sweeter than honey or the honey- 



ADVERTISEMENT. XV11 

comb, and more precious than gold and rubies. — 
The word of the Lord will dwell in them richly ; 
they will hide it in their heart, that they may not 
sin against him ; and from that inexhaustible treasure 
bring forth both in their public preaching and pri- 
vate instructions, what will preserve and establish 
others in the truth. They will be preserved from 
Arianism and Socinianism ; for they will believe, 
and feel, and teach the first and fundamental prin- 
ciples of the doctrine of Christ. They will par- 
ticularly insist on the supreme and essential divin- 
ity of the Lord Jesus, the depravity of human na- 
ture, the doctrine of atonement bv the vicarious 
sacrifice of the Redeemer, repentance towards God, 
faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and the renewal of 
the soul in righteousness and true holiness, by the 
inspiration and power of the Holy Ghost. They 
will be preserved from Antinomianism, both in 
theory and practice ; for they will see that Christ 
is not only a Redeemer and a Saviour, a. Prophet, 
and an atoning High-Priest ; but also a King, a law- 
giver, and a righteous Judge ; and that he hath 
given them his law, hath delivered unto them a 
holy commandment, which he requires, and will 
enable them to fulfil ; and that it is the doers of the 
law, and not the hearers only, that shall be finally 
justified. Hence, says our blessed Lord, " He that 
heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, 
shall be likened to a wise man who built his 

b 2 



XV111 ADVERTISEMENT. 

house upon a rock ; and he that heareth these 
sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be 
likened to a foolish man who built his house upon 
the sand." Thus we see, whatever Antinomians 
may teach, according to the plain words of Him 
who is the " faithful and true Witness," that 
hearing his sayings, and doing them, is building on 
a rock; and hearing his sayings, and not doing 
them, is building on the sand. They will not be 
smooth, flimsy, and superficial preachers ; but se- 
rious, earnest, and weighty. They will feel what 
they say, and their great concern, acid constant en- 
deavour will be to make those that hear them un- 
derstand and feel it also. In a word, they will de- 
clare the whole counsel of God i not only by public 
preaching, but also by personal instruction, and 
teaching from house to house ; laying themselves 
out in every possible way to be useful to those 
over whom they are appointed, and for whose 
souls they watch as they that must give an account. 
If they cannot do all they would, they will strive 
to do all they can, that they may be clear of the 
blood of all men. 

Now, my brethren, a book which is thus cal- 
culated to guard us against so many dangerous ex- 
tremes on the right hand and on the left, and to 
stir us up to zeal, diligence, and fidelity, in the 
great work of saving our own souls, and those 
that hear us — the most important work under the 



ADVERTISEMENT. XIX 

sun ; certainly such a book i9 worthy of our most 
careful and serious attention. 

But, added to all these reasons, there is one 
in particular which strongly recommends it to the 
preachers in our connexion. A very important 
part of our form of discipline, which we all have 
engaged before God, angels, and men, to maintain 
among our people, and that with all our might, 
is taken verbatim from this book. See Gen. Min. 
p. 26. § 17. On visiting and instructing the peo- 
ple from house to house. And Mr. Wesley's 
Works, vol. xv. p. 284 ; where he introduces 

it thus — 

" 1. Personal religion, either towards God or 
men, is amazingly superficial among us. How 
little faith is there among us ; how little commun- 
ion with God ; how little living in heaven, walk- 
ing in eternity, deadness to every creature ! How 
much love of the world, desire of pleasure, of 
ease, of praise, of getting money ! How little 
brotherly love ; what continual judging one an- 
other ; what gossipping, evil speaking, tale-bear- 
ing ; what want of moral honesty I Who does as he 
would be done by in buying and selling, particu- 
larly in selling horses ? 

" 2. Family religion is shamefully wanting, 
and almost in every branch. And our people in 
general will be little better, till we take quite an- 
other course with them. For what avails public 
preaching alone, though we could preach like an- 



XX ADVERTISEMENT. 

gels ? We must therefore instruct them from 
house to house. Till this is done, and that in 
good earnest, the Methodists will be little better 
than other people. 

" Can we find a better method of doing this than 
Mr. Baxter's ? If not, let us adopt it without de* 
lay. His whole tract, entitled Gildas Salvianus, is 
well worth a careful perusal. A short extract 
from it I here subjoin. Speaking of this visiting 
from house to house, (p. 351.) he says," — " We 
shall find many difficulties, both " in ourselves, 
and in the people," &c. &c. 

Thus, my brethren, we, in particular, are un- 
der very strong and solemn obligations, not only to 
peruse, but diligently and faithfully to practise 
a most important part of what the pious author 
cjiiefly insists upon in this work. 

I have been led as follows to abridge it. About 
four months ago a friend lent me Dr. Smith on the 
sacred office, with which I was much pleased ; 
and as he repeatedly quotes Baxter's Reformed 
Pastor, I determined to read it over again, which 
accordingly I did as soon as I had finished the 
other, and was so struck with its excellence and 
vast importance, that I thought it was a great pity 
such a treasure of necessary and useful instruc- 
tion should be so little known. Therefore after 
reading it through with particular care, I imme- 
diately began to abridge it, hoping that it might, by 
the blessing of God, be the means of stirring up 



ADVERTISEMENT. XXI 

some, at least, to greater zeal and diligence in 
the work of the ministry, and of promoting vital 
and practical godliness both among preachers and 
people. I had only gone over a few pages, when 
I mentioned what I had done and intended to do, 
to a worthy and sensible friend, who highly ap- 
proved of the design, and kindly offered to take 
the printing of it upon himself. Thus encouraged, 
I cheerfully proceeded in my work. 

I was also the more desirous to do something 
in this way, because, in consequence of a severe 
rheumatic fever which confined me to my bed for 
near five weeks, and a succession of ill health 
ever since, I have for many months been quite 
incapable of any public work. All I can do, is 
to read and write a little. Hence I thought if I 
could be instrumental in getting this book re- 
printed, and more generally read, I might there- 
by serve the cause of my blessed Lord and Mas- 
ter, for whom I would fain be doing something as 
long as I live. I love his cause, his people, and 
his work : and it is my grief and shame that I have 
done so little for him, and served him so un- 
faithfully when I had health and strength. 

My dear brethren, though I have presumed, in 
this advertisement, to act the part of a monitor to 
you, yet I can assure you, that I put myself in 
the front of those who have the greatest cause to 
be ashamed and humbled before the Lord, for neg- 



XXU ADVERTISEMENT. 

ligence and unfaithfulness in his work : for I know 
none in the connexion so guilty as myself. But 
this will not excuse you. Nay, rather let it 
provoke you to double your diligence, and lay out 
all your strength, time, and talents for God. I 
believe when we come to the end of our race, we 
shall wish we had done more ; and shall see that, 
in many respects, we might have done more for 
the glory of God, and the salvation of souls, than 
we have. 

For near two months, I have employed as much 
of my time every day in preparing this work for 
the press, as my strength would permit ; and 
sometimes I believe I have done more than I 
ought. It has been to me very pleasant work, and 
I hope profitable. Sometimes the delight I have 
felt in it, has made me forget my pain and weak- 
ness ; and at other times they have bee» so great, 
as to oblige me to lay it aside. Indeed my weak- 
ness at present is inexpressible : I seem, from 
day to day, like one suspended between life and 
death ; and which scale will preponderate, the 
Lord only knows. His will be done ! Health 
or sickness, strength or weakness, ease or pain, 
life or death are welcome — if 1 may but glorify and 
enjoy him. 

" All is one to me, so I 
lomv Lord may live and 6lq ! " 



ADVERTISEMENT. XX11I 

I have endeavoured to abridge this book as a 
dying man, thinking it is not improbable that it may 
be the last work I shall ever do for the church 
below.* I have therefore done it as with God, 
death, eternity, and immortal souls before my eyes, 
and with many prayers, and some tears. Oh that 
the great Bishop and Shepherd of souls may accom- 
pany it with his abundant blessing to all w T ho read 
it, and especially to those for whom it is chiefly in- 
tended ! 

I have taken much pains in order to make it as 
correct as I possibly could. Some, perhaps, will 
think that I have left out too much ; but I ap- 
prehend the majority will think that I have re- 
tained more than is either altogether suitable or 
necessary. I confess there are some parts that do 
not immediately suit us ; but nevertheless, they 
shew in such a striking manner the spirit of the au- 
thor, and how much his heart was enlarged and set 
upon the glory of God and the salvation of souls, 
and do also contain so much useful information how 
to deal with persons of different dispositions, states, 
sentiments, and characters, in order, if possible, to 
pluck them as brands from the burning, and make 
them wise unto salvation, that I thought in justice 
both to the original author and the reader, they 
ought to be preserved. - T. R 

* And so it was, for in about one month after preparing 
this work for the press, he gently sunk into the arms of 
his Lord, in the fifty-first year of his age. 



:<* 



To my Reverend and dearly beloved brethren, the 
faithful Ministers of Christ, in Britain and Ire- 
land, Grace and Peace in Jesus Christ be in- 
creased. 

REVEREND BRETHREN, 

The subject of this treatise so nearly concerns 
yourselves, and the churches committed to your 
care, that it emboldens me thus to address you, 
notwithstanding its imperfections, and the concious- 
ness that I am unworthy to be your monitor. — I 
shall first give you some account of the reasons of 
the work, and the freedom of speech I have used, 
which to some may be displeasing. 

When the Lord had awakened his ministers 
in this county, and some neighbouring parts, to a 
sense of their duty in the work of catechising, and 
privately instructing all in their parishes who did 
not obstinately refuse their help ; and when they 
had subscribed an agreement containing their reso- 
lutions for the future performance of it, they 
judged it improper to enter upon the work, with- 



XXVI PREFACE. 

out solemnly humbling their souls before the 
Lord, for their long neglect of so great and neces- 
sary a duty : and therefore they agreed to meet to- 
gether at Worcester, Dec. 4. 1655, and there to 
join in humiliation and earnest prayer to God for 
the pardon of their sins, for his special assistance in 
the work they had undertaken, and for the success 
of it with the people whom they were engaged to 
instruct : at which time I, with some others, was 
desired by them to preach. In answer to their de- 
sires I prepared the following discourse ; which, 
though it proved longer than could be delivered 
in one or two sermons, yet 1 intended to have 
entered upon it at that time, and to have delivered 
that which was most pertinent to the occasion, and 
reserved the rest to another season. But before 
the meeting, by the increase of pain and weak- 
ness, 1 was disabled from going. To recompense 
which, I yielded to the requests of divers of the 
brethren, to publish the things which I had pre- 
pared, that they might hear what they could not 
see. 

If now it be objected, ' That I should not 
have spoken so plainly or sharply against the 
sins of the ministry, or that I should not have 
published it to the view of the world ; or at least 
that I should have done it in another tongue, and 
not in the ears of the vulgar, especially at a time 
when many are endeavouring to bring the minis- 



PREFACE. XXV11 

try into contempt, and the people are too prone 
to hearken to their suggestions ;' I confess I thought 
the objection very considerable : but it did not 
alter my resolution, for the following reasons : — 
(t.) It was a public solemn humiliation that we had 
agreed on, and that this was prepared and intended 
for : and how could we be humbled without a plain 
confession of our sin ? — (2.) It was principally our 
own sins that the confession concerned ; and who 
can be offended with us for confessing them, and 
taking the blame and shame to ourselves, which 
our consciences told us we ought to do. — (3.) I 
have excepted in our confessions those that are not 
guilty; and therefore hope I have injured none. 
— (4.) Having necessarily prepared it in the Eng- 
lish tongue, I had no time to translate it — 
(5.) Where the sin is open in the sight of the 
world, it is in vain to attempt to hide it. — (6.) 
And such attempts do but aggravate it, and increase 
our shame. — (7.) A free confession is a condition 
of a full remission ; and when the sin is public, the 
confession must be public. If the ministers of 
England had sinned only in Latin, I would have 
made Fhift to have admonished them in Latin, or 
else have said nothing to them. But if they will 
sin in English, they must hear of it in English. — 
Unpardoned sin will never let us rest nor pros- 
per, though we' be at ever so much care and cost 
to cover it. Our sin will surely find us out, though 



XXV111 PREFACE. 

we find not it. The work of confession is pur- 
posely to make known our sin, and freely to take 
the shame to ourselves : and if he that confes- 
seth and forsaketh it, be the man that shall have 
mercy, no wonder then if he that covereth it, 
prosper not. (Prov. xxviii. 13.) If we be so ten- 
der of ourselves, and so loth to confess, God will 
be the less tender of us, and he will indite our con- 
fessions for us. He will either force our con- 
sciences to confession, or his judgments shall pro- 
claim our iniquities to the world : but if we judge 
ourselves, he will not judge us. — (8.) The fire is 
already kindled which revealeth our sin : judg- 
ment is begun at the house of God. Have min- 
isters suffered nothing in England, Scotland, and 
Ireland ; and have there been no attempts for their 
overthrow ? Was it not put to the vote in an as- 
sembly, which some called a Parliament of Eng- 
land, whether the whole frame of the established 
ministry and its legal maintenance, should be 
taken down ? — And were we not put to plead our 
title to that maintenance, as if we had been falling 
into the hands of Turks, who thirsted for our sub- 
version, as determined enemies to the Christian 
cause ? And who does not know that many of 
these men are still alive, and how high the same 
spirit is, and busily contriving the accomplish- 
ment of the same design ? Shall we think that they 
have ceased their enterprize, because they are 



1'REFACE . XXIX 

w orkmg more subtilly in the dark ? It is no time 
now to stand upon our credit, so as to neglect our 
duty, befriend our sins, and provoke the Lord 
against us. It rather becomes us to fall down at 
the feet of our offended Lord, to justify him in 
his judgments, and freely and penitently to con- 
fess our transgressions, and to resolve upon a 
speedy and thorough reformation, before wrath 
break forth upon us. It is time to make up all 
breaches between us and heaven, when we stand 
in such necessity of the divine protection : for 
how can an impenitent, unreformed people, ex- 
pect to be sheltered by holiness itself. — (9.) The 
world already knows that we are sinners ; and is it 
not highly necessary they should see that we are 
penitent sinners ? As repentance is necessary to 
the recovery of our peace with God, so is it also 
to the reparation of our credit with wise and 
godly men. Befriending and excusing our sin, is 
our shame, and leads towards everlasting shame ; 
which penitent confession will prevent. — (10.) 
Our penitent confession and speedy reformation 
are the means that must silence the reproaching 
adversaries. He is impudently inhuman that will 
reproach those for their sins, who bewail^ and 
penitently charge them upon themselves. Such 
men have a promise of pardon from God ; and who 
dare condemn us, when God doth justify us ? — 
Who shall lay that to our charge, which God hath 

c 2 



XXX PREFACE. 

declared that he will not charge us with ?— (11.) 
The leaders of the flock must be examples to the 
rest, in this as well as in other duties. It is not 
our part only to teach them repentance, but to 
go before them in the exercise of it. As far as 
we excel them in knowledge and other gifts, so 
far should we also excel them in this and other 
graces. — (12.) Too many who have set their hand 
to this sacred work, are, notwithstanding, still 
addicted to self-seeking, negligence, pride, and 
other sins ; so that it is our duty to admonish them. 
To give them up as incurable, were cruel, as long 
as there are other means to be used. We must 
not hate them, but plainly rebuke them, and not 
suffer sin upon them. (Lev. xix. 17.) To bear 
with the vices of the ministers, is to promote the 
ruin of the church. For what more speedy way 
is there to deprave and undo the people, than the 
depravity of their guides ? And how can we more 
effectually further a reformation, than by endeav- 
ouring to reform the leaders of the church ? 
Surely, brethren, if it be our duty to endeavour 
to cast out those ministers that are negligent, 
scandalous, and unfit for the work, it must be 
our duty to endeavour to heal the sins of others, 
and to use a much gentler remedy to them that are 
less guilty. If other men's sin deserve an ejec- 
tion, surely ours deserve and require plain re- 
proof. For my part, I have done as I would be 



PREFACE. XXXi 

done by. It is for God and the safety of the 
church, and in tender love to the brethren whom I 
have adventured to reprehend : not to make them 
contemptible and odious, but to heal the evils that 
would make them so ; that no enemy may find 
this matter of reproach among us. But especially 
because our faithful endeavours are so necessary 
to the welfare of the church, and the salvation of 
souls ; that it is not consistent with love to either, 
to be negligent ourselves, or silently to connive at, 
and comply with the negligent. If thousands of 
you were in a leaky ship, and those that should 
pump the water and stop the leaks, should be 
sporting or asleep ; yea, or but favour them- 
selves in their labours, so as to the hazard of 
you all, would you not rouse them to their work, 
and call upon them to labour as for your lives ? 
And suppose you used some sharpness" and im- 
portunity with the slothful, would yon think that 
man in his wits, that would take it ill, and accuse 
you of pride, self-conceit, or rudeness, for presum- 
ing to talk so to your fellow-workmen, or who 
told you that you wronged him by diminishing his 
reputation? Would you not say, ' The work 
must be done, or we are all dead men : the ship 
is ready to sink, and do you talk of reputation ; 
or had you rather hazard yourself and us, than 
hear of your slothfulness V This is our case, 
brethren. The work of God must be done ; souls 



SXXU ITvEFACE. 

must not perish while you mind your worldly 
business, and take your ease, or quarrel with 
your brethren : nor must we be silent while men 
are hastened by you to perdition, and the church 
to greater danger and confusion, for fear of seenv 
ing uncivil with you, or displeasing your impa- 
tient souls. Would you be but as impatient with 
your sins as with reproof, you should hear no 
more from us. But neither God nor good men 
will let you alone in your sins. If you had en- 
gaged in some other calling, w T e should not, per- 
haps, have had so much necessity for molesting 
you : but as you have entered into the office, 
which is for the preservation of us all, so that by 
letting you alone in your sin, we must give up the 
church to apparent loss and hazard ; blame us 
not if we talk to you more freely than you would 
have us do. If your own body be sick, and you 
will despise the remedy ; or if your own house be 
on fire, and you will be singing or quarrelling in 
the streets ; I can possibly bear it and let } r ou 
alone, which yet in charity I should not easily do. 
But if you will undertake to be the physician of 
an hospital, or to all the town that is infected 
with the plague, or will undertake to quench all 
the fires that shall be kindled in the town, there 
is no bearing with your remissness, how much 
soever it may displease you. Take it how you 
will, you must be told of it: and if that will not 



PREFACE. XXX111 

serve, you must be yet more closely told of it ; 
and if that will not serve, if you be rejected as 
well as reprehended, you must thank yourselves. 
I speak all this to none but the guilty — And thus 
I have given you those reasons which forced me, 
even in plain English, to publish so much of the 
sins of the ministry, as in the following treatise 
I have done. And I suppose the more penitent 
and humble any are, and the more desirous of the 
truest reformation of the church, the more easily 
and fully will they approve such free confessions 
and reprehensions. 

The second sort of objections against this free 
confession of sin, I expect to hear from the parties 
whose sins are confessed. Most of them are wil- 
ling that others be blamed, so they be justified. I 
can truly say, that what I have here spoken, hath 
been as impartially as I could, and not as a party, 
nor as siding with any ; but as owning the com- 
mon christian cause, as sensible of the apparent 
wrongs that have been offered to common truth and 
godliness, and the hindrances of men's salvation, 
and of the happiness of the church. But I find 
it impossible to avoid offending guilty men : for 
there is no way of avoiding it. but by our silence 
or their patience : and silent we cannot be, be- 
cause of God's commands ; and patient they can- 
not be, because of their guilt and partiality. I still 
except those humble men, who are willing to know 



XXXIV PREFACE. 

the worst of themselves, love the light that their 
deeds may be made manifest, and long to know 
their sins that they may forsake them, and their 
duty that they may perform it. 

Some, it is likely, will be offended with me, 
that I blame them so much for the neglect of that 
discipline, which they have so long disputed for. — 
But what remedy ? If discipline were not of God, if 
it were unnecessary to the church, or if it were 
enough to dispute for duty, while we deliberately 
refuse to perform it — then would I have given 
these brethren no offence. 

Another sort that will be offended with me are 
gome of the divines of the prelatical way, whom I 
had no mind to offend, nor to dishonour. But if ne- 
cessary duty will do it, what remedy ? If they cannot 
hear with just admonition, I must bear with their 
impatience. But I must tell them, that I speak 
not by hear-say, but from sight and feeling. It is 
more tolerable in an Englishman to speak such 
things, who has seen the sad work which was made 
in England — the silencing of most godly, able men, 
the persecution even of the peaceable, the dis- 
countenance of godliness, and the insulting scorn of 
the most profane in the land ; than for a foreigner 
who hath known of this but by hear-say. When 
we remember what sort of ministers the land 
abounded with, while the ablest and most diligent 
men were cast out, ( of which matters we cannot be 



FREFACE. XXXV 

ignorant, if there were no records remaining of 
their attested accusations) we must needs take 
leave to tell the world, that the souls of men and 
the welfare of the church were not so contemptible 
in our eyes, as that we should have no sense of 
these things, or should manifest no dislike of them, 
nor once invite the guilty to repent. 

Perhaps some will say, ' That the matter is not 
much amended, when in former times we were 
almost all of a mind ; and now we have so many re- 
ligions, that we know not well whether we have 
any at all.' Ans. (1.) Every different opinion is 
not another religion. — (2.) This is the common 
Popish argument against reformation ; as if it weje 
better that men believed nothing fide divina, than 
inquire after truth for fear of misbelief; and as 
if they would have all ungodly, that they might be 
all of a mind. I am sure that most of the people in 
England wherever I came, made religion, and the 
reading of scripture, or speaking of the way to 
heaven, the matter of their bitter scorn and re- 
proach. And would you have us all of that mind 
again, for fear of differences ? A charitable wish I 
— (3) If others run into the other extreme, will 
that be any excuse to you ? Christ's church hath 
always suffered between profane unbelievers, and 
heretical dividers, as he suffered himself on the 
cross between fcwo thieves. And will the sin of 
One excuse the other ? — (4) And yet I must say, 



XXXVI PREFACE. 

(lest I be impiously blind and ungrateful) that 
through the great mercy of God, the matter is so 
far amended, that many hundred drunken, swear- 
ing, ignorant, negligent, scandalous ministers are 
cast out ; and we have many humble, godly, pain- 
ful teachers in a county, for a few that we had 
before. This is so visibly true, that when the 
godly are feasted, who formerly were almost fa- 
mished, and beaten for going abroad to beg their 
bread, you can hardly by all your arguments or 
rhetoric persuade them that the times are no bet- 
ter with them than they were ; though men of 
another nation may possibly believe you in such 
reports. I bless God for the change that I see 
in this country, and among the people, even in my 
own charge, which is such as will not permit me 
to believe that the case is as bad with them as for- 
merly it hath been. 

It is the sinful unhappiness of some men's minds, 
that they can hardly think well of the best words 
or ways of those whom they disaffect ; and they 
usually disaffect those that cross them in their cor- 
rupt proceedings, and plainly tell them of their 
faults. They are ready to judge of the reprover's 
spirit by their own, and to think that all such sharp 
reproof? proceed from some disaffection to their 
persons, or partial opposition to the opinions 
which they hold ; and therefore they will seldom 
regard the reproofs of any, but those of their own 



PREFACE. XXXVll 

party, who will seldom deal plainly with them, be- 
cause they are of their party. But plain dealers 
are always approved in the end ; and the time is at 
hand when you shall confess that those were your 
truest friends. He that will deal plainly against 
your sins, in uprightness and honest}', will deal 
as plainly for you against the sins of any that 
would injure you : for he speaks not against sin^ 
because it is yours, but because it is sin. — It is an 
observable passage that is reported by many, and 
printed by one, how the late King Charles, (who 
by the bishops' instigation had kept Mr. Prin so 
long in prison, and twice cropt his ears for writing 
against their masks and pla} r s, and the high and 
hard proceedings of the prelates) when he read 
his notable voluminous speech for an acceptance 
of the king's concessions, and an agreement with 
him thereupon, did, not long before his death, de- 
liver the book to a friend that stood by him, 
saying, " Take this book ; I give it thee as a leg- 
acy : and believe it, this gentleman is the Cato 
of the age." The time will come, when plain 
dealing will have a better construction than it 
hath while prejudice doth turn the heart against 
it. 

I shall insist no longer on the apologetical part : 
the title of the book itself is apologetical. I do not 
pretend to the sapience of Gildas, nor the sanctity 
of Salvian, as to the degree ; but by their names, 

D 



XXXV111 PRE FACE • . 

I offer you an excuse for plain dealing. If it was 
used in a much greater measure by men so wise 
and holy as they were, why should it not, in a 
lower measure, be allowed in me ? At least, I 
have this encouragement, that the plain dealing of 
Gildas and Salvian being so much approved by us, 
now they are dead, how much soever they might 
be despised or hated while living, by those they 
reproved, I may expect some such success in 
future times.* 

I must now, brethren, become your monitor con- 
cerning some of the necessary duties, of which I 
have spoken in the ensuing discourse. If any of 

you should charge me with arrogance or immod- 
esty for this attempt, as if hereby I accused you of 
negligence, or judged myself sufficient to admonish 
you ; I can assure you, that herein I displease my- 
self as much as I do you ; and had rather have the 
ease and peace of silence, if it were consistent with 
duty and the churches' good. But it is the mere 
necessity of the souls of men, my desire of their 
salvation, and the prosperity of the church, which 
forces me to this arrogance and immodesty, if it 
must be so called. For who that hath a tongue 
can be silent, when it is for the honour of God, 

* Whatever apology this book might require when 
it was first published, it requires none now. 1 have 
therefore left out these two names in the title-page a* W~ 
ing no loDger necessary. 



TREFACE. XXXIX 

the welfare of his church, and the everlasting 
happiness of thousands and tens of thousands? 

And the first and main matter which I have 
to propound to you, is, Whether it be not the un- 
questionable duty of the generality of ministers in 
these three nations, to set themselves presently to 
the work of catechising, and personally instructing, 
all that are taught by them, who will submit to it ? 
Can you think that holy wisdom will gainsay it ? 
Will zeal for God, delight in his service, or love 
to the souls of men, gainsay it ? — That people must 
be taught the principles of religion, and matters 
of greatest necessity to salvation, is past doubt — 
That they must be taught them in the most edify* 
ing and advantageous way — That personal confer- 
ence, examination, and instruction, have many ex- 
cellent advantages, is beyond dispute — That per^ 
sonal instruction is recommended to us by scrip- 
ture, and the practice of the servants of. Christ, 
and approved by the godly of all ages, is, so far 
as I can find, without contradiction — It is past 
doubt that we should perform this great duty to 
all the people, or as many as we can ; for our love 
and care of their souls must extend to all. If there 
be a thousand or five hundred ignorant people 
in your parish, it is a poor discharge of your duty 
occasionally to speak to some few of them, and 
let the rest alone in their ignorance, if you are 



Xl PREFACE. 

able to afford them help — It is certain that so 
great a work as this is, should take up a consid- 
erable part of our time — And it is as certain that 
all duties should be done in order, as far as may 
be, and therefore should have their appointed 
times ; and if we are agreed to practise according 
to these acknowledged truths, we need not differ 
upon any doubtful circumstances. 

I do now, in the behalf of Christ, for the sake 
of his church, and immortal souls, beseech all the 
faithful ministers of Christ to fall immediately and 
effectually upon this work. Combine for a unan- 
imous performance of it, that it may more easily 
procure the submission of your people. I am far 
from presuming to prescribe rules for you, or de- 
siring you to tread in our steps, in any circum- 
stances where a difference is tolerable, or to use 
the same catechism or exhortation that we do : 
only fall presently and closely to the work. If 
there should be any who dare withdraw from so 
great a duty, because they would not seem to be 
our followers, whereas they would have approved 
it if it had risen from themselves, I advise such, 
as they love their everlasting peace, to flee to 
Christ for a cure of such cankered minds : and 
let them know that this duty hath its rise neither 
from them nor us, but from the Lord : and is 
generally approved by his church : and for my 
part, let them tread me in the dirt, and let me be 



PREFACE. , X\'\ 

as vile in their eyes as they please, so they will 
but hearken to God and reason, and fall upon the 
work, that our hopes of the salvation of men > 
and a true reformation of the church may be re- 
vived. I must confess I find by some experience, 
that this is the work that must reform indeed ; that 
must expel ©ur common prevailing ignorance ; 
that must bow the stubborn hearts of men ; that 
must answer their vain objections, and remove their 
prejudice ; that must reconcile their hearts to faith- 
ful ministers, and promote the success of our pub- 
lic preaching ; and must make true godliness a 
more common thing, through the grace of God, 
than it now is. — I find that we never took the most 
effectual method to demolish the kingdom cf dark- 
ness, till now. I wonder at myself, how I was kept 
from so clear and excellent a duty so long. I doubt 
not but the case of others is like mine. I was 
long convinced of it, but my apprehensions of the 
difficulties were too great, and my apprehensions of 
the duty too small ; so that I was hindered long from 
the performance. I thought t t the people would 
scorn it ; and none but a few that had least need, 
submit to it. The thing seemed strange ; and I 
staid till the people were better prepared ; and 
I thought my strength would never go through with 
it, having such great burdens on me before : and 
thus I was long detained, which I beseech the 
Lord of mercy to forgive. Whereas upon trial I 

d 2 



Xlii PREFACE. 

find the difficulties almost nothing to what I imagin- 
ed ; and I find the benefits and comforts of the 
work to be such, that I profess I would not wish 
that I had forborne it for all the riches in the 
world. — We spend Monday and Tuesday, from 
morning to almost night, in the work, (besides a 
chappelrie catechised by another assistant) taking 
about fifteen or sixteen families in a week, that 
we may go through the parish which hath above 
eight hundred families, in a year : and I cannot 
say yet that one family have refused to come to 
me ; and but few have excused themselves, and 
shifted it off : and I find more outward signs of suc- 
cess with most that come than of all my public 
preaching to them. If you ask me, what course 
I take for order and expedition, 1 answer, at the 
delivery of the catechisms, I take a catalogue of 
all the persons of understanding in the parish ; and 
the clerk goes a week before to every family, to 
tell them when to come, and at what hour ; one 
family at eight o'clock, the next at nine, and the 
next at ten, &c. : and I am forced, by the num- 
ber, to deal with a whole family at once ; but do 
not usually admit any of another family to be pre- 
sent. 

Brethren, do I now invite you to this work with- 
out God, without the consent of all antiquity, with- 
out the consent of the reformed divines, or with- 
out the conviction of your own consciences ? See 
what our late assembly say in the Directory, for 



FfcEFACE. xllil 

the visitation of the sick : — ,s It is the duty of the 
minister not only to teach the people committed 
to his charge, in public ; but privately and par- 
ticularly to admonish, exhort, reprove, and com- 
fort them, upon all seasonable occasions, so far 
as his time, strength, and personal safety will 
permit. He is to admonish them in time of health, 
to prepare for death ; and for that purpose, they 
are often to confer with their minister about the 
state of their souls, &,c." — Read this over again, 
and consider it. Hearken to God, if you would 
have peace with God : hearken to conscience, if 
you would have peace of conscience. I am re- 
solved to deal plainly with you, though I displease 
you. It is an unlikely thing, that there should be 
a heart that is sincerely devoted to God, in the 
breast of that man, who, after advertisements and 
exhortations, will not resolve on so clear and great 
a duty as this is. As it is with our people in hear- 
ing the word, so it is with us in teaching. An up- 
right heart is an effectual persuader of them to 
attend on God in the use of his ordinances ; and 
an upright heart will as effectually persuade a 
minister to his duty. 

You have put your hand to the plough of God ; 
you are doubly sanctified or devoted to him, as 
christians, and as pastors : and dare you after this 
draw back and refuse his work ? You see the 
work of reformatioa at a stand, and you are en- 



Xliv PREFACE. 

gaged by many obligations to promote it ; and dare 
you now neglect those means by which it must 
be done ? Will you shew your faces in a chris- 
tian congregation, as ministers of the gospel, and 
there pray for a reformation, for the conversion 
and salvation of your hearers, and the prosper- 
ity of the church ; and when you have done, re- 
fuse to use the means by which it must be ac- 
complished ? I know carnal wit will never want 
words to gainsay that truth and duty which it ab- 
hors : it is easier to cavil against duty than per- 
form it. But stay the end, when you shall pass 
your final judgment. 

And let me speak one word to you that are my 
dear fellow-labourers in this county, who have 
engaged to be faithful in this work. It is your 
honour to lead in sacred resolutions and agree- 
ments ; but if any of you should be unfaithful in 
the performance, it will be your double dishonour. 
Review your subscribed agreement, and see that 
you perform it with diligence and constancy. You 
have begun a happy work ; such as will do more 
for the welfare of the churck than many that the 
world doth make a greater stir about. God for- 
bid that now any imprudence or negligence of ours 
should frustrate all. For the generality of you, 
I do not much fear it, having had so much ex- 
perience of your fidelity in the other parts of your 
office. I earnestly beseech you all, in the name 



PREFACE. X\r 

of God, and for the sake of your people's souls, 
that you will not be half-hearted in this work ; bat 
do it vigorously, and with all your might, and 
make it your great and serious business. Much 
judgment is required for the managing of it. Stu- 
dy therefore beforehand how to do it, as you stu- 
dy your sermons : for I perceive that all the life 
of the w r ork under God, doth lie in the prudent 
effectual management of searching men's hearts, 
and setting home the saving truths. The ablest 
minister is weak enough for this ; and few of infe- 
rior parts will be found competent : for I fear 
nothing more than that many ministers who preach 
well, will be found unfit for this work'; especially 
in dealing with old, ignorant, dead-hearted sin- 
ners. — Seeing then that the work is cast upon us, 
and we must do it, or else it must be undone, let 
us be up and doing with all our might, and the 
Lord will be with us. 

I beseech you, brethren, let all this, and the 
many motives that I have given you stir you up to 
the utmost diligence herein. When you are speak- 
ing to your people, do it with the greatest pru- 
dence and seriousness ; and be as earnest with 
them as for life or death ; and follow it as close 
as you do your public exhortations in the pulpit. 
I profess again, it is to me the most comfortable 
work, (except public preaching) that ever I have 



Xlvi PREFACE. 

set my hand to : and I doubt not but you will find 
it so, if you faithfully perform it. 

My second request to the reverend ministers in 
these nations, is, That they would, without any 
more delay, unanimously set themselves to the 
practice of those parts of christian discipline, which 
are unquestionably necessary, and a part of their 
work. It is lamentable that good men who enjoy 
such liberty, should settle themselves so long in 
the constant neglect of so great a duty. The com- 
mon cry is, ' Our people are not ready for it ; 
they will not bear it.* But is not the meaning, 
that you will not bear the trouble which it will oc- 
casion ? If indeed you proclaim our churches in- 
capable of the order and government of Christ, you 
give up the cause to those that withdraw from them, 
and encourage men to look out for better societies, 
where that discipline may be had. I only beseech 
you who desire to give a comfortable account to 
the chief Shepherd, and not be found unfaithful in 
the house of God, that you do not wilfully or neg- 
ligently delay it, as if it were a needless thing ; 
nor shrink from duty, because of the trouble which 
attends it : for the most costly duties are usually 
the most comfortable ; and be assured that Christ 
will bear the cost. I could here produce a heap 
of testimonies, of fathers and reformed divines, who 
inculcate this duty with great importunity. I shall 



TREFACE. Xlvil 

only now give the words of two of the most godly, 
laborious, judicious divines, that the church of 
Christ had since the days of the apostles. 

"But (saith Calvin) since some have a hatred 
and aversion to discipline, from the very name of 
the thing, let such consider, that if no society, 
nay, even a small family, can be preserved in a 
proper condition without discipline, it is much 
more necessary in the church, which ought to be 
kept in the most orderly state. For, as the whole- 
some doctrine of Christ is the life of the church, 
so discipline in it is the sinews, by which all the 
members of the body adhere together, each in its 
proper place. Therefore, whoever wish to take 
away discipline, or would hinder its restoration, 
(whether this arise from their ignorance, or their 
endeavours) they certainly are promoting the utter 
destruction of the church. For, what will be the 
consequence, if every person may act as he please ? 
But this would be the case, unless to the preach- 
ing of doctrine were added likewise private ad- 
monition, correction, and such like helps to sup- 
port doctrine, and not suffer it to be useless.— 
Therefore discipline is as a curb to restrain and 
subdue those who violently oppose the doctrine of 
Christ, or as a stimulus to stir up such as may be 
tardy. It is likewise used sometimes as a fatherly 
rod, by which more atrocious offenders may be 
chastised in the meek and gentle spirit of Christ. 



Xlviii PREFACE. 

When, therefore, we perceive a dreadful desola- 
tion coming upon the church, and begun already, 
inasmuch as there is no care, nor mode of keeping 
the people within bounds ; the very necessity of 
the case calls for a remedy. Now this is the only 
remedy which Christ himself prescribed, and 
which hath been alwa}'s used among religious peo- 
ple. 

" The very foundation of discipline is this ; that 
private admonitions take place ; that is, if any one 
doth not perform his duty willingly, or behave* 
with insolence, or doth not live orderly, or com- 
mits any thing which deserves reproof; that he 
suffer himself to be admonished ; and that every 
one should admonish his brother when the case 
requires it. But especially the pastors and elders 
should be exceedingly vigilant ; whose business 
it is not only to preach to the people, but to ad- 
monish and exhort from house to house ; be- 
cause they would be of little use by merely a gen- 
eral way of preaching : as Patfl ipforms us, when 
he relates that he taught publicly and from house to 
house ; and asserts that he was pure from the blood 
of ally because he had not ceased to warn every one 
night and day with tears ."* 

He also adds, in sect. 4, respecting the neces- 
sity of it — " They who are confident that churches 

* See Calvin* Inst. 1. 4. cap. 12. sect. 1, 2. 



PREFACE. xllX 

can stand long without this band of discipline, are 
mistaken in their opinion ; unless, forsooth, we 
can safely do without that which our Lord foresaw 
would be necessary for us." 

And in sect. 5 : " And here the same rule is to 
be observed in the Lord's supper, lest it should 
be profaned by giving it promiscuously. For it is 
most certain that if he to whom the distributing of 
it is committed, shall knowingly and willingly ad- 
mit an unworthy person, whom he ought justly 
to repel, he is then guilty of sacrilege, as if he 
should expose the Lord's body to dogs."* 

" Discipline (saith Zanchius) is an act, by which 
a church forms its faithful members, and retains 
them when formed, not only publicly but private- 
ly, both in the true worship of God, and in good 
morals ; and that both by doctrine, and correction, 
and ecclesiastical punishments and censures, and 
also by excommunication, if need be. — A church 
hath power, if public instruction be not sufficient 
in the public place of worship, to enter the houses 
of the faithful, and there teach them privately, and 
train them up in the true doctrine and religion of 
Christ. And the faithful ought to suffer their pas- 
tor to enter their houses, and train them up pri- 
vately. Of this we have an example in Acts xx. 
20, 31. The rest of the apostles did the same. — ■ 

*See Calvin. Inst. L 4. cap. 12. sect. 5* 

E 



1 PREFACE* 

The church hath likewise power to use private 
admonition, correction, and reproof.' 5 * 

With respect to the sacrament, he saith, " Some 
object, and say, ' We will remain in the church, 
and hear the word, &c. :* but how can we have 
communion with you in the Lord's supper, when 
many are admitted who are unclean, drunken, cov- 
etous, &c.' — To this we answer, with respect to 
those sinners, they may be considered in two 
ways : those who were formerly drunken, &c, but 
afterwards repented ; and those who still follow 
drunkenness and other vices, and come as such 
without repentance or faith. The former, we say, 
according to the w 7 ord of God, ought not to be ex* 
eluded from the Lord's table ; since they are en- 
dued with true repentance and faith : the latter, 
we say plainly, ought not to be admitted. But that 
they are admitted, this may often happen two ways 
either through the ignorance of the ministers, who 
did not know them to be such as they are ; (and in- 
deed, we cannot commend this ignorance, because 
the ministers ought to know what sort of persons 
they are to whom they administer the Lord's sup- 
per ; and if they be ignorant, they are reprehensible 
for a supine and reprovabie negligence) or, when it 
is known to all what sort of persons they are, they 
do not strive to repel them, through fear, or some 

* Zanch. de Eccl. v. 3. p. 123, 1?4, 



PREFACE. ll 

other respect to man. This we condemn in the 
minister, as the fault of timidity : for a minister of 
Christ ousht to be most sincere and valiant. But 
here we are not to consider merely what one 
or two improper ministers may do ; but what is 
the institution of the church, and what the common 
custom in all churches. In all our churches, in- 
deed, before the sacrament is administered, all 
such persons are excluded. And truly it is a great 
scandal, that both swine and dogs should have a 
place among the children of God ; but much more 
so if the most holy symbols of the Lord's supper 
should be prostituted to such. Therefore the 
churches of Christ ought not to carry such wick- 
ed persons in their bosom ; nor admit the wor- 
thy and unworthy promiscuously to the Lord's sup- 
per."* 

Again, with respect to discipline, he saith, " Let 
princes and magistrates then, who are unwilling 
that this discipline should be restored to the church, 
consider what they do. This was instituted by 
Christ, that it might be preserved as a peculiar 
treasure in the church ; therefore let them who 
would banish it, know that they w T ish to banish 
Christ likewise. This is a part of the gospel of 
Jesus Christ ; therefore let them who are unwilling 
to have it restored, know that they are unwilling 

*Zanch. de Eccl. v^3. p. 79. 



Hi PREFACE. 

the gospel of Christ should be restored, a3 it 
ought to be. How then can we boast that the 
gospel is restored in our churches, if we be un- 
willing that this, which is not the least part of the 
gospel, should be restored ? By this vice is cor- 
rected, and virtue promoted : therefore, how shall 
they who are unwilling that discipline should be 
restored, dare to say that they hate vice, and love 
virtue ; that they love to promote piety, and hate 
impiety ? By this the church is preserved and 
governed, and the members of each particular 
church are united each in its proper place : there- 
fore how can they who wish to have this divine 
sway, say that they wish the church of Christ 
to be well governed ; since it cannot be well gov- 
erned without this ? If no family, no town, no 
city, no republic, no kingdom ; nay, not even a 
little grammar-school, can be governed without 
discipline — how can the church be governed with- 
out it I 

" But some will say, ' We are afraid of sedi- 
tion and tumult.' We answer, Therefore neither 
should the gospel be preached. What ! Do not 
our princes and magistrates perceive how much 
evil may arise in the church, both within and 
abroad, by the neglect or contempt of this disci- 
pline ? Abroad, there is nothing which so much 
keeps back papists and others, or at least prevents 
them from embracing the gospel, as the neglect 



PREFAOE. llil 

of discipline in our churches. Within, there is 
nothing which so much nourishes vice, heresy, &c. 
Do not princes perceive that their own church- x 
es are full of heretical and ungodly men ? To 
these churches flow all sorts of fanatics and ungod- 
ly persons, as to an asylum. Wiry so ? Because 
there is no discipline there. 

44 Therefore, let princes, and all those who are 
unwilling that ecclesiastical discipline should be re,- 
stored in the churches, and are opposed to it, 
and proscribe it, know that they are opposed to 
Christ. They who hinder ministers to exercise 
it, hinder Christ and God to exercise their pre- 
rogative. For w r hat do ministers, when they ex- 
communicate ? They pronounce the sentence of 
God. For Christ saith, "Whatsoever ve shall 
bind on earth," &,c. What is it then which they 
do, who hinder the church to pronounce the 
sentence of God? They sin against Christ, and 
are guilty of injuring the divine Majesty. If any 
one should hinder a judge to pronounce the sen- 
tence of the emperor, would he not be guilty 
of injuring the majesty of the emperor ? There- 
fore let them take heed what they are doing. — 
Hitherto Christ has ruled his church by this dis- 
cipline ; and even princes, nay, some ministers 
likewise, are unwilling it should be so governed. 
Let them look to it ! I pronounce, I proclaim, 
I declare, that those persons commit sin, who do 

e % 



llV PREFACE. 

not restore it, when they might and ought to re* 
store it!"* 

I hope both magistrates and ministers, that are 
guilty, will give me leave to say the like with Zan- 
chy, if not to call them traitors against the majesty 
of God, that hinder discipline, and adversaries to 
Christ ; yet at least to pronounce, proclaim, pro- 
test, that they sin against God, who set it not up 
when they may and ought. But what if the ma- 
gistrate will not help us ? Nay, what if he were 
against it ? So he was for about three hundred 
years, when discipline was exercised in the prim- 
itive church. 

To this Zanchy adds, " Oh ye ministers of the 
church, ye ought to exercise this discipline, as far 
as it refers to the agreement and peace of the 
church ! For God hath given you this power, and 
no one can take it away ; nor should ye be content 
in teaching what is to be done, and what is to be 
avoided ; and take no care, but suffer every one to 
live as he please ; but you must insist upon disci- 
pline."! 

Read the rest of the solid advice which Calvin 
and Zanchy, in the fore-cited places, give both to 
ministers and people, where discipline is wanting. 

My third and last request, is, that all the faithful 
ministers of Christ would, without any further de- 

* Zanch. de Eccl. v. 3. p. 134. 135. f Ibid. 



PREFACE. lv 

lay, unite and associate for the furtherance of each 
other in the work of the Lord, and the maintaining 
of unity and concord in his church ; and that, for 
these ends, they would not neglect their brotherly 
meetings, nor spend them unprofltably, but im- 
prove them to their edification, and the effectual 
carrying on of the work. Read that excellent 
letter of Edmund Grindal, archbishop of Canter- 
bury, to Queen Elizabeth, for ministerial meetings 
and exercises. [Such bishops would have pre- 
vented our contentions and wars.] You may see 
it in Fuller's New History of the Church of En- 
gland. Let none draw back who agree in the es- 
sentials of faith and godliness. 

Brethren, 1 crave your pardon for the imper- 
fections of this address ; and, earnestly longing for 
the success of your labours, I shall daily beg of 
God, that he may excite you to those duties which 
I have here requested you to perform, and pre- 
serve and prosper you therein, against all the ser- 
pentine subtility and rage that is engaged to op- 
pose and hinder you. 

Your unworthy fellow -servant , 

RICHARD BAXTER. 

April 15, 1656. 



o 



TO THE PEOPLE. 



The reason why I have called this volume the 
Jlrst part of the book, is, because I intend, if God 
enable me, and give me time, a second part, con- 
taining the duty of the people to their pastors ; 
and therein to shew, (1.) The right and necessity 
of a ministry. (2.) The way to know which is the 
true church and ministry, how we justify our own 
calling to this office, and how false prophets and 
teachers must be discerned. (3.) How far the peo- 
ple must assist the pastors in the work of the gos- 
pel, and the pastors employ them for that end. 
And (4.) How far the people must submit to their 
pastors, and what other duty they must perform in 
that relation. But because my time and strength 
are so uncertain, that I know not whether 1 may 
live to publish my yet imperfect preparations on 
this subject, I dare not let this First Part come 
into your hands, without a w r ord of caution and ad- 
vice, lest you should misunderstand or misapply 
it* 

* I do not find that ever the author published the 
above. 



TO THE PEOPLE. lvH 

1. Entertain no unworthy thoughts of your pas- 
tors ; because we here confess our own sins, and 
aggravate them in order to our humiliation and re- 
formation. You know it is men, and not angels, 
whom God hath appointed to the work of the 
ministry, and to be overseers of his church. 

2. Brethren, let me deal freely with you. — 
The ungrateful contempt of a faithful ministry, is 
the shame of the faces of thousands in this land ; 
and, if true repentance prevent it not, they shall 
better know in hell whether such ministers were 
their friends or foes, and what they w T ould have 
done for them if their counsel had been heard. 
When the messengers of God were mocked, his 
words despised, and his prophets abused, the 
wrath of the Lord arose on the Israelites them- 
selves, and there was no remedy. (2 Chron. xxxvi. 
16.) Shall ministers study, preach, and pray for 
you, and after all be despised? When they have 
the God of heaven and their own consciences to 
witness that they desire not yours but you, are 
willing to spend and be spent for you, that all the 
wealth in the world is nothing to them in compar- 
ison of your salvation, and that all their labours and 
sufferings are for your sake ; if yet they be requit- 
ed with your contempt and unteachableness, see 
who will be the losers in the end. When God 
himself shall justify them with Well done good and 
faithful servant, let those who reproached, des- 



Iviil TO THE PEOPLE. 

pised, and condemned them, defend their faces from 
shame, and their consciences from the accusations 
of their horrid ingratitude, if they can! Read the 
scripture, and see whether they who obeyed God's 
messengers, or they who despised and disobeyed 
them, fared best. And if any tell you that we are 
not the ministers of Christ, leave them not till they 
also tell you which is his true church and minis- 
try, and where they are ; and by the time they 
have answered you, you will know more of their 
mind. 

3. See that you obey your faithful teachers, and 
improve their help for your salvation while you 
have it. Take heed that you refuse not to learn 
when they would teach you. Especially see that 
you refuse not to submit to them in the duty of 
private instruction mentioned in this treatise. Go 
to them when they desire you, and be thankful for 
their help ; yea, and at other times, when you 
need their advice, go to them of your own accord 
and ask it. Their business is to guide you in the 
way of life. If you seek not their direction, you 
either despise salvation itself, or you are so proud 
as to think yourselves sufficient to be your own di- 
rectors. Shall God in mercy send you leaders to 
teach you and conduct you in the way to glory ; 
and will you send them back, or refuse their as- 
sistance, and say, 'We have no need of their in- 
struction ?' Is it for their own gain that they trou- 



TO THE PEOPLE. llX 

ble you, or is it for your everlasting gain ? Re- 
member what Christ said to his messengers, " He 
that despiseth you, despiseth me." If your obstinate 
refusal of the instruction of your ministers should 
put them to bear witness against you in judgment, 
and say, 'Lord, I would have taught these igno- 
rant sinners, and admonished these worldly, im- 
penitent men, but they would not so much as 
come to me, nor speak with me ;' look you to it, 
and answer it if you can : for my part I would not 
then be in your situation for all the world. But I 
shall say no more to you on this point, only desire 
you to read and consider the exhortation published 
in our agreement itself, which speaks to you more 
fully. If you read this book, remember that the 
duty which you find to belong to the ministers 
shews also what belongs to yourselves. For it can- 
not be our duty to teach, catechise, advise, &c, if 
it be not yours to hear, and learn, and seek ad- 
vice. 

" There will (saith Dr. Hammond) be little mat- 
ter of doubt or controversy, but that private, fre- 
quent, spiritual conference, betwixt fellow-chris- 
tians, and especially (in important and difficult mat- 
ters) between the presbyter and those of his 
charge, even in the time of health, particularly that 
part of it which is spent in the discussion of every 
man's special sin, and infirmities, and inclinations* 



IX TO THE PEOPLE. 

may prove very useful and advantageous, in order 
to spiritual directions, reproof and comfort, to the 
making the man of God perfect : and, to tell the 
truth, if the pride and self-conceit of one, the 
wretchlessness of another, the bashfulness of a 
third, the nauseating and instant satiety of any 
good in a fourth, the follies of men, and the arti- 
fices of Satan had not put this practice quite out of 
fashion among us, there is no doubt but more 
good might be done by ministers this way, than 
is now done by any other means ; yea than by pub- 
lic preaching itself, (which hath now the fate to 
be cried up, and almost wholly depended on, 
which yet need not be neglected the more when 
this is used) it being the most likely way, as 
Quintilian saith, (comparing the public and pri- 
vate teaching of youth) to fill narrow bottles, (and 
such are the most of us) by taking them separate- 
ly and pouring water into each, than by setting 
them all together and throwing never so much 
water upon them."* 

The ignorant soul (saith Gurnal) feeis no such 
smart. If the minister stay till he sends for him to 
instruct him, he may sooner hear the bell pro- 
claim his death, than see a messenger from him. 
You must seek them out, and not expect that they 
will come to you. — These are a sort of people that 

* Power of the Keys, cap. 4. sect. 104. p. 113. 



• TO THE FEOPLE. lxu 

are more afraid of their remedy than their dis- 
ease, and study more how to hide their ignorance 
than how to have it cured ; which should make 
us pity them the more because they pity them- 
selves so little. 1 confess it is no small unhappiness 
to some of us, who have to do with a multitude, that 
we have neither time nor strength to make our ad- 
dresses to every particular person in our congre- 
gations, and attend on them as their needs require ; 
and yet we cannot w r ell satisfy our consciences oth- 
erwise. But let us look to it, that though we 
cannot do to the height of what we would, we 
be not found wanting in what we can. Let not the 
difficulty of our province make us, like some, 
who, when they see they have got more work 
upon their hands than they can well dispatch, grow 
sick of it and sit down out of a lazy despondence, 
and do nothing. Oh, if our hearts were once filled 
with zeal for God and compassion to the souls of 
our people, we should up and be doing, though 
we could lay but one brick a day, and God would 
be with us. It may be you find a people rude 
and sottishly ignorant, like stones in the quarry ; 
and trees unfelled shall not bring the work to 
such perfection in your days as you desire ; 
yet, as David did for Solomon, you may by your 
pains in teaching and instructing them, prepare 

F 



Ixii TO THE PEOPLE. 

materials for another, who shall rear the tem- 
ple."* 

RICHARD BAXTER. 
April 16, 1656. 

* The Christian in complete armour, p. 235. 



THE 



Acts xx. 28. 



Take heed, therefore, unte yourselves, and to all the flock over the 
■which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of 
God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. 



CHAP. I. 



A brief explication of the text — The doctrine and meth- 
od — The terms opened — Wherein we must take heed 
to ourselves — Reasons why we must take heed to 
ourselves. 



Reverend and dearly beloved Brethren, 

Though some think that Paul's exhortation to 
these elders proves him their ruler, we who this 
day speak to you from the Lord, hope that we may 
freely do the like, without any jealousy of such a 
conclusion. Though we teach our people as of- 
ficers set over them in the Lord, yet we may 
teach one another as brethren in office as well 
as in faith. If the people of our charge must teach, 
admonish, and exhort each other daily, (Col. iii. 
16. Heb. iii. 13.) no doubt teachers may do it to 
one another without any supereminence of power 
or degree. We have the same sins to mortify and 
destroy, and the same graces to be quickened and 



64 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 1. 

strengthened as our people have : we have great* 
er works to do than they, greater difficulties to 
overcome, and no less necessity is laid upon us ; 
and therefore we have need to be warned and awak- 
ened, if not instructed, as well as they; so that I 
confess I think such meetings should be more fre- 
quent, if we had nothing else to do together but 
this. And that we should deal as plainly and 
closely with one another as the most serious among 
us do with our flocks, lest if they only have the 
sharp admonitions and reproofs, they only should 
be sound and lively in the faith. That this was 
Paul's judgment, there need no other proof than 
this rousing and heart-melting exhortation to the 
Ephesian elders — a short sermon, but not soon 
learned. 

Our time will not allow me to touch any part of 
it but my text, which contains a two-fold duty, and 
a fourfold motive to enforce it. 

The first duty is to take heed to themselves ; the 
second, to take heed to all the flock; and the work 
for the flock, which is to be done with the great- 
est care, is to feed them, or act the part of good 
shepherds towards them. 

The motives are these : — Their engagement and 
relation ; they are the overseers of the flock — 
The efficient cause, even the authority and excel- 
lence of him who called them to it ; the Holy 
Ghost — The dignity of the object ; the church of 



Chap, l.j REFORMED PASTOR. 65 

God, the most excellent and honourable society 
in the world — The tender regard that Christ hath 
to this church, and the price it cost him ; he pur- 
chased it with his own blood. 

The terms used in the text do not require much 
explication. Ilpo^^y, is in general, to apply the 
mind to any thing with strict and close attention. 
Here it signifies diligently to watch over ourselves, 
over our own conduct and behaviour, our heart and 
our life ; all our tempers, words, and actions. — 
TloifAviov, (a little flock) does not here signify the 
whole church of Christ; but that particular church 
of which those elders had the charge. — Etktxottcv?, 
(bishops or overseers) persons appointed by Christ 
to teach and guide those churches, or that particu^ 
lar church, in the way of salvation The same per- 
sons who before are called elders of the church of 
Ephesus, are here called bishops.- -E^eto, (hath 
made, placed, ordained, or constituted) and imports 
the qualification and appointment of those elders, 
or bishops, by the Holy Ghost to their particular 
charge. — TloifiaifHi tj?v ExxAwrAxy toC ®zov, to feed the 
church of God. tloipodvEH is by seme rendered 
barely to feed, as here, and by others to rule : but 
it oaght not to be confined to either : for it com- 
prehends both, or the whole of the pastoral work. 
In a word, it is to do the work of a pastor to all 
the flock, or church of God, over v\ hich he is 
appointed. — Hv vEpktircri<rxTo which he (God) hath 

f 2 



6t) REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 1, 

acquired or purchased, in a peculiar way and man- 
ner, viz. A10& 7ov iSiov frtpxrog, with his own blood. — - 
Jesus Christ is he who purchased the church with 
his own blood, and is here expressly called God. 
He indeed is God over ail, blessed for ever more, 

The doctrine contained in the text is, that the 
pastors, or overseers of the churches of Christ, 
must take great heed both to themselves and to all 
their flocks, in every part of their pastoral work. 
In handling which, I shall (1.) briefly shew you 
what is meant by pastors and churches. — (2.) What 
it is to take heed to ourselves, and wherein it 
must be done. — (3.) Give some reasons for that 
part of the work. — (4.) What it is to take heed 
of all the flock in our pastoral work, and how 
it must be done. — (5.) I shall make some appli- 
cation of the whole. 

I. By & pastor or bishop here, is meant an offi- 
cer appointed by Christ for the ordinary teaching 
and guiding a particular church and all its mem- 
bers, in order that they may be saved, and walk 
so as to please God. The office itself he has ap- 
pointed in his holy word, and he calls men to it. 
—(1.) By endowing them with suitable gifts. — 
(2.) By his providential dispensations. — (3.) By 
the work and inspiration of his Spirit in their 
hearts. — (4.) By the ordination or appointment of 



Chap. 1.] REFORMED PASTOR. 67 

his present officers, and the approbation of 
the church. 

Teaching and guidance comprehend the main 
parts of the work to which they are appointed. 
A particular church is the object of their work, by 
which they are distinguished from apostolical itin- 
erant ministers. — By the flock and church is meant 
that particular society of Christians, of which these 
bishops or elders have the charge, associated for 
personal communion in God's public worship, and 
other mutual assistance in the way to salvation. 

II. Lst us next consider what it is to take heed to 
ourselves, and wherein it must be done. Here, 
for the sake of brevity, I shall adjoin the appli- 
cation to the explication. Take, theiefore, I be- 
seech you all, this explication, as so much advice 
and exhortation to the duty ; and let your hearts, 
as well as your understandings, attend to it. 

1. Take heed to yourselves, lest you be void 
of that saving grace of God which you offer to 
others, and strangers to the effectual working of 
that gospel which you preach ; and lest, while 
you proclaim the necessity of a Saviour, to the 
world, your own hearts neglect him, and you miss 
of an interest in him and his saving benefits. 
Take heed to yourselves lest you perish while 
you call upon others to take heed of perish- 
ing ; and lest you famish yourselves while you 



68 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 1. 

prepare them food. Though there be a prom- 
ise of shining as the stars to those who turn many 
to righteousness, it is on the supposition that they 
are first turned to it themselves : their own sin- 
cerity in the faith is the condition of their glory, 
simply considered, \though their great ministerial 
labours may be a condition of the promise of their 
greater glory. Many men have warned others not 
to go to that place of torment, who yet have hasted 
thither themselves. Many a preacher is now in 
hell who had a hundred times called upon his hear- 
ers to use the utmost care and diligence to escape 
it. Is it reasonable to imagine that God will save 
aien for offering salvation to others, while they 
refuse it themselves ; or for telling others those 
truths which they themselves neglect or abuse ? 
Believe it, brethren, God never saved any man for 
being a preacher, nor because he was an able 
preacher ; but because he was justified and sanc- 
tified, and consequently faithful in his Masters 
work. — Take heed therefore to yourselves first, 
that you be that which you persuade your hearers 
to be, and believe that which you persuade them 
daily to believe ; and have heartily entertained 
that Christ and Spirit which you offer unto oth- 
ers. He who bid you love your neighbours as 
yourselves, implied that you should love your- 
§elves, and not hate and destroy yourselves and 
them. 



Chap. 1.] REFORMER PASTOR. 69 

2. Take heed to yourselves, lest you live in 
those actual sins which you preach against in oth- 
ers, and lest you be guilty of that which you daily 
condemn. Will you make it your work to magnify 
God, and when you have done, dishonour him as 
much as others I Will you proclaim Christ's gov- 
erning power, and yet contemn it, and rebel your- 
selves ? Will you preach his laws, and wilfully 
break them ? If sin be evil, why do you live in it ? 
If it be not, why do you dissuade men from it? 
If it be dangerous, how dare you vesture on it? 
If it be. not, why do you tell men so ? If God's 
threatenings be true, why do you not fear them? 
If they be false, why do you trouble men need- 
lessly, and put them into such frights without a 
cause? Do you know the judgment of God, that 
they who commit such things are worthy of death ; 
and yet will you do them ? (Rom. i. 32.) Thou 
that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? 
Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, 
or be drunk, or covetous, art thou such thyself? 
Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through 
breaking the law dishonourest thou God ? (Rom. 
ii. 21, 22, 23.) What, shall the same tongue 
speak evil, that speaketh against evil ? Shall it 
censure, and slander, and secretly back-bite ; and 
yet cry down these in others ? Take heed to 
yourselves, lest you cry down sin, and not over- 
come it : lest, while you seek to bring it down 



70 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 1 • 

in others, you bow to it, and become its slaves 
yourselves. For of whom a man is overcome, of 
the same is he brought in bondage. (2 Pet. ii. 
19.) To whom you yield yourselves servants to 
obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whe- 
ther of sin unto death, or of obedience unto right- 
eousness. (Rom. vi. 16.) It is easier to chide at 
sin than to overcome it. 

3. Take heed to yourselves, that you be not 
unfit for the great employment you have under- 
taken. He must not be himself a babe in knowl- 
edge who will teach men all those mysterious 
things that must be known in order to salvation. 
O what qualifications are necessary for that man 
who has such a charge upon him as we have ! 
How many difficulties in divinity to be opened ; 
yea, concerning the fundamentals that must be 
known ! How many obscure passages of scripture 
to be expounded ! How many duties to be done, 
wherein we and others may miscarry, if in the 
matter, end, manner, and circumstances, they be 
not well informed ! How many sins to be avoid- 
ed, which, without understanding and foresight, 
cannot be done ! What a number of subtle temp- 
tations must we open to our people, that they may 
escape them ! How many weighty, and yet intri- 
cate cases of conscience, have we almost daily 
to resolve! Can so much work, and such work 
as this, be done by raw, unexperienced men ? O 



Chap. 1.] REFORMED PASTOR.- 71 

what strong holds have we to batter I What sub- 
tle, diligent, and obstinate resistance, must we 
expect from every heart we deal with ! Preju- 
dice has blocked up our way : we can scarcely 
procure a patient hearing. They think ill of what 
we say while we are speaking it. We cannot 
make a breach in their groundless hopes and car- 
nal peace, but they have twenty shifts and seeming 
reasons to make it up again , and twenty ene* 
mies, who appear to be friends, are ready to help 
them. We do not dispute with them upon equal 
terms, but have children to reason with who can- 
not understand us ; distracted men (in spirituals) 
who will bawl us down with raging nonsense. 
We have wilful, unreasonable people to deal with ; 
who when they are silenced are never the more 
convinced ; and when they can give you no reason, 
they will give you their resolution. We dispute 
the case against men's will and sensual passions as 
much as against their understanding, and these have 
neither reason nor ears : their best arguments 
are, ' I will not believe you nor all the preach- 
ers in the world in such things. I will not change 
my mind or life ; I will not leave my sins ; I 
will never be so precise, whatever be the con- 
sequence. We have not only one, but multitudes 
of raging passions, and contradicting enemies, to 
dispute with at once, whenever we go about the 
conversion of a sinner ; as if a man were to dis* 



72 fcEFOHMED pastor/ [Chap. 1* 

pute in a fair ©r tumult, or in the midst of a crowd 
of violent scolds : what equal dealing, and what 
success could be expected there ? Yet such is our 
work, and a work that must be done. 

O, dear brethren, what men should we be in skill, 
resolution, and unwearied diligence, who have all 
this to do ? Did Paul cry out, " Who is sufficient 
for these things!'" And shall we be proud, care- 
less or lazy, as if we were sufficient ? As Peter says 
to every christian, in consideration of our great 
approaching change, " What manner of persons 
ought we to be in all holy conversation and god- 
liness ?" So may I say to every minister, seeing 
all these things lie upon our hands, What man- 
ner of persons ought we to be in all holy endea- 
vours and resolutions for our work ! This is not a 
burden for the shoulders of a child. What skill 
doth every part of our work require, and of how 
much moment is every part ? To preach a ser- 
mon, I think is not the hardest part ; and yet what 
skill is necessary to make plain the truth, to con- 
vince the hearers, to let in irresistible light to 
their consciences, to keep it there, and drive all 
home ; to screw the truth into their minds, and 
work Christ into their affections : to meet everr 
objection, and clearly to resolve it ; to drive sin- 
ners to a stand, and make them see that there is 
no hope of their escaping destruction except they 
be converted j and to do all this, both for language 



Chap. 1.] REFORMED TASTOR. 73 

and manner, as becomes our work, and yet suited 
to the capacities of our hearers : this, and much 
more that should be done in every sermon, surely 
requires to be done with a great deal of holy skill. 
The Great God, whose message we deliver, should 
be honoured bv our delivery of it. It is lamenta- 
ble that, in delivering a message from the God 
of heaven, of everlasting consequence to the souls 
of men, we should behave so weakly, so impru- 
dently, or with so much coldness and indifference 
as to cause the whole to miscarry in our hands ; 
and God be dishonoured, his work disgraced, and 
sinners rather hardened than converted ; anil all 
this through our weakness or neglect ! How often 
have carnal hearers gone jeering home at the pal- 
pable and dishonourable failings of the preacher ! 
How many sleep under us, because our hearts and 
tongues are sleepy ; and we bring not with us so 
much skill and zeal as to awake them! 

Moreover : What skill is necessary to defend tho 
truth against gainsay ers, and to deal with disputing 
cavillers ! And if yet we fail through weakness, 
how will they insult and triumph ; and who knows 
how many w r eak ones may be perverted by their 
success ? What skill is necessary to deal in private 
with poor ignorant souls for their conversion ! 

O, brethren, do you not shrink and tremble un« 
der the sense of all this work ! Will a common mea- 
sure of holy skill and ability, of prudence and other 



14 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 1. 

qualifications, serve for such a task as this ? I know 
necessity may cause the church to tolerate the 
weak ; but woe to us if we tolerate and indulge our 
own weakness. Do not reason and conscience tell 
you, that if you dare venture on so high a work as 
this, you should spare no pains to be fitted for the 
performance of it ; It is not now and then an idle 
snatch or taste of studies that will serve to make a 
sound divine. 1 know that laziness has taught us 
to make light of all our studies, and that the Spirit 
only must wholly qualify us for the work ; as if 
God commanded the use of means, and yet would 
warrant our neglect of them. As if it were his 
way to cause us to thrive in a course of idleness, 
and to bring us to knowledge by dreams when we 
are asleep, or to take us up into heaven and shew 
us his counsels while we think of no such matter, 
but are rooting in the earth. O that men should 
dare so sinfully by their laziness to quench the 
Spirit, and at the same time pretend the Spirit 
for their doing of it! God has required of us, that 
we b^irot slothful in business, but fervent in spirit 
serving the Lord. Such we must provoke our 
hearers to be, and such we must be ourselves. 
0, brethren, therefore lose no time ; study and 
pray, confer and practise ; for by these four ways 
ycur abilities must be increased. Take heed to 
yourselves lest you be weak through your own 
negligence, und lest you mar the work of God by 



Chap. 1.] REFORMED PASTOR, 75 

your own weakness. " As the man is, so is his 
strength.'' Judg. viii. 21. 

4. Take heed to yourselves lest your example 
contradict your doctrine, and you lay such stumb- 
ling blocks before the blind as may be the occa- 
sion of their ruin ; lest you unsay that with your 
lives which you say with your tongues, and be the 
greatest hinderers of the success of your own la- 
bours. It greatly hinders our work when other 
men are all the week long contradicting to the 
people in private what we have been speaking 
to them from the word of God in public ; but it 
will much more hinder if we ourselves contradict 
it, if our actions give our tongue the lie, if we 
build up an hour or two with our mouths, and all 
the week after pull down with our hands ! This is 
the way to make men think that the word of God is 
but an idle tale, and to make preaching seem no 
better than prating. He who means as he speaks 
will surely do as he speaks. One proud lordly 
word, one needless contention, one covetous ac- 
tion, may cut the throat of many a sermon, and 
blast the fruit of all that you have been doing. Tell 
me, brethren in the fear of God, do you regard the 
success of your labours, or do you not ? Do you long 
to see it upon the souls of your hearers? If you 
do not, what do you preach for, what do you study 
for, what do you call yourselves the ministers of 
Christ for ? But if you do, then surely you cannot 



76 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 1. 

find in your heart to mar your work for a thing 
of nought. What, do you regard the success of 
your labours, and yet will not part with a little to 
the poor; put up with an injury, stoop to the 
meanest, nor forbear your passionate or lordly 
carriage ; no, not for the winning of souls, and 
attaining the end of all your labours I You much 
Regard their success indeed, to sell it at so cheap 
a rate. 

It is a palpable error in those ministers who make 
such a difference between their preaching and their 
living ; they study hard to preach exactly, and study 
little or none at all to live exactly. All the week 
long is little enough to study how to speak two 
hours ; and yet one hour seems too much to study 
how to live all the week. They are loth to misplace 
a word in their sermons, or to be guilty of any re- 
markable mistake or blunder ; (and I blame them 
not, for the matter is holy and weighty) but they 
make nothing of misplacing affections, words, and 
actions, in the course of their lives. O how curi- 
ously have I heard some men preach, and how care- 
lessly have I seen them live ! They have been so 
accurate as to the wording part of their prepara- 
tions, seldom preaching seemed a virtue to them, 
that their language might be the more polished ; 
and all the rhetorical jingling writers they could 
meet with were pressed to serve them for the 



Chap. 1.] REFORMED PASTOR. 77 

adorning of their style. They were likewise so nice 
in hearing others, that no man pleased them who 
spoke as he thought ; and yet when it came to matter 
of practice, and they were once out of church, how 
incurious were the men, and how little did they re- 
gard what they said or did, provided it were not so 
palpably gross as to dishonour them ! They who 
preached precisely would not live precisely. What 
difference between their pulpit-speeches and their 
familiar discourse ! They who cannot bear vulgar 
solecisms, and paralogisms in a sermon, can easily 
tolerate them in their conversation. 

Certainly, brethren, we have very great cause to 
take heed what we do as well as what we say. If 
we will indeed be the servants of Christ, we must 
not be tongue servants only ; but be doers of his 
work, that we may be blessed in our deed. As our 
people must be doers of the word, and not hear- 
ers only ; so we must be doers, and not preachers 
only, lest we be deceivers of ourselves. A prac- 
tical doctrine must be practically preached. We 
must study as hard how to live well as how to 
preach well. We must think, and think again, 
how to order our lives so as may most tend to 
men's salvation, as well as compose our sermons. 
When you are studying what to say to them, I know 
these are your thoughts (or else they are worthless, 
and not to the purpose) ' How shall I get within 
them ; what shall I say that is likely most effects 

G % 



78 REFORMED -PASTOR- [Chap. 1* 

ally to convince and convert them, and tend to their 
salvation V And should you not as diligently think, 
' How shall I live, what shall I say and do, and 
how shall I dispose of all that I have as may most 
tend to the saving of men's souls ?' 

Brethren, if saving souls be your end, you will 
certainly intend it as well out of the pulpit as in it ! 
If it be your end, you will live for it, and con- 
tribute all your endeavours to attain it ; and if you 
do so, you will as well ask concerning the money 
in your purse, as the words of your mouth, 'Which 
way should 1 lay it out for the greatest good, espe- 
cially to men's souls ?' O that it were your daily 
study how to use your substance, your friends, 
and all you have for God, as well as your tongues ! 
Then we should see that fruit of j'our labours 
which otherwise is never likely to be seen. If 
you intend the end of the ministry in the pulpit 
only, then it seems you take yourselves for min- 
isters no longer than you are there ; and if so, I 
think you are unworthy to be esteemed such 
at all. 

III. Having shewed you how it is that we must 
take heed to ourselves, and what is comprized in 
this command ; I am next to give you the reasons 
for it, which I entreat you to take as so many 
motives to awaken you to your duty, and apply 
them as we go. 



Chap. 1.] REFORMED PASTOR. 79 

1. You have a heaven to win or lose your- 
selves, and souls that must be happy or miserable 
for ever ; and therefore it concerns you to begin at 
home, and to take heed to yourselves as well as to 
others. Preaching well may succeed to the salva- 
tion of others, without the holiness of your own 
hearts or lives : it is possible, at least, though not 
usual ; but it is impossible it should serve to save 
yourselves. Many shall say at that day, Lord, have 
we not prophesied in thy name ? who shall be an- 
swered with, I never knew you, depart from me 
ye that work iniquity. O sirs, how many men have 
preached Christ, and perished for w T ant of a sav- 
ing interest in him ! How many that are now in 
hell, have told their people of the torments of 
hell, and warned them to avoid it ! How many have 
preached of the wrath of God against sinners, that 
are now feeling it ! O what more melancholy case 
can there be, than for a man that made it his trade 
and calling to proclaim salvation, and to help oth- 
ers to attain it, yet after all to be himself lost for 
ever! Alas for us, that we should have so many 
books in our libraries that tell us the way to hea- 
ven ; that we should spend so many years in read- 
ing those books, and studying the doctrine of eter- 
nal life ; and after all this to miss of it ! That 
we should study and preach so many sermons up- 
on salvation, and yet fall short of it ; so many ser- 
mons on damnation, and yet fall into it ! And al} 



80 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap, 1. 

because we preached so many sermons concern- 
ing Christ, while we neglected him ; on the Spirit, 
while we resisted him ; on faith, while we did not 
heartily believe ; on repentance and conversion, 
while we continued in sin ; and on a heavenly life 
while we remained carnal and earthly ! If we be 
divines only in tongue and title, and have not the 
divine image upon our souls, nor give up ourselves 
to the divine honour and will, no w r onder if we 
be separated from the divine presence, and de- 
nied the fruition of God for ever! Believe it, 
sirs, God is no respecter of persons : he saveth 
men not for their coats or callings — a holy calling 
will not save an unholy man. If you stand at the 
door of the kingdom ofgrace, to light others in and 
will not go in yourselves, you shall knock in vain 
at the gates of glory, who would not enter at the 
door ofgrace. You shall then find that your lamps 
should have had the oil of grace, as well as of 
ministerial gifts ; of holiness, as well as of doctrine ; 
in order to your having part in the glory which 
you preached. Need I tell you, that preachers 
of the gospel must be judged by the gospel, and 
stand at the same bar. and be sentenced on the same 
terms, and dealt with as severely as other men ? 
Take heed therefore to yourselves, for your own 
sakes ; seeing you have souls to save or lose as 
well as others, and must be saved in the same way, 
and on the same terms. 



Lhap. 1.] REFORMED PASTOR. 81 

* 

2. Take heed to yourselves, for you have a de- 
praved nature, and sinful inclinations, as well as 
others. If innocent Adam had need to take heed, and 
lost himself and us for want of it, how much more 
need have we ? Sin may dwell in us, when we 
have preached never so much against it : one de- 
gree of it prepareth the heart to another, and one 
sin inclineth the mind to more. If one thief be in 
the house, he will let in the rest, because they 
have the same disposition and design. A spark is 
the beginning of a flame ; and a small disease may 
bring a greater. A man that knows himself to be 
purblind, should take heed to his feet. Alas, even 
in our hearts, as well as in our hearers, there 
is an averseness to God, a strangeness to him, 
unreasonable, and almost unruly passions. In us 
there may be the remnants of pride, unbelief, self- 
seeking, hypocrisy, and the most hateful and deadly 
sins. And doth it not then concern us to take heed ? 
Is so much of the lire of hell unextinguished, that 
at first was kindled in us ? Are there so many 
traitors in our very hearts, and is it not time for us 
to take heed ? You will scarcely let your little 
children go themselves while they are weak, with- 
out calling upon them to take heed of falling. And 
how weak, alas, are those of us that seem strongest ! 
How apt to stumble at a very straw. How small a 
matter will cast us down, by enticing us to folly, 
kindling our passions and inordinate desires, per- 



$2 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. L 

verting our judgment, abating our resolutions, cool- 
ing our zeal, or interrupting our diligence ! Min* 
isters are not only sons of Adam, but sinners against 
the grace of Christ as well as others ; and so have 
increased their radical sin. Those treacherous 
hearts will one time or other deceive you, if you 
do not take heed. Those sins that seem now to 
lie dead, will revive : your pride, worldliness, 
and many other noisome vices will spring up, that 
you thought had been weeded out by the roots. 
It is most necessary therefore, that men of such 
infirmities should take heed to themselves, and be 
exceedingly careful of their own souls. 

3. And the rather also, take heed to yourselves* 
because so great a work as ours puts men on 
greater exercise and trial of their graces, seeing 
they are exposed to greater temptations than 
most other men. Weaker gifts and graces may 
carry a man out in a more private and even course 
of life, who is not called to such great trials. 
Smaller strength may serve for lighter work. 
But if you will venture on the great work of the 
ministry ; if you will lead on the troops of Christ 
against the face of Satan and his followers ; if you 
will engage yourselves against principalities, pow- 
ers, and spiritual wickedness in high places ; if you 
undertake to rescue captivated sinners, and to 
fetch men out of the devil's paws ; do not think that 
a heedless, careless minister is fit for so great 



Cfiap. 1.] REFORMED PASTOR. 83,_ 

a work as this. You must expect to come off with 
greater shame, and deeper wounds of conscience, 
than if you had lived a common life, if you at- 
tempt to go through such things as these with a 
careless soul. We have seen many men who lived 
as private christians, in good reputation for parts 
and piety ; but when they took upon them either 
military employment or magistracy, where the 
work was above their parts, and they were exposed 
to temptations above their strength, they proved a 
disgrace to the office they sustained. And we have 
also known some private christians of note, who, 
having thought too highly of their parts, and thrust 
themselves into the ministerial office, have proved 
empty men, and burdens to the church. They 
might have done God more service in the station 
of the higher rank of private men, than they do 
among the lowest in the ministry. If you will ven- 
ture into the midst of the enemies, and bear the 
burden and heat of the day, Take heed to your- 
selves. 

4. Take heed to yourselves, because the tempt- 
er will make his first and sharpest attack on 
you. He bears those the greatest malice, who 
are engaged to do him the greatest mischief. As 
he hates Christ more than any of us, because he 
is the General of the field, and the Captain of our 
salvation, and doth more than all the world besides 
against the kingdom of darkness ; so he bates the 



84 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. Is 

leaders under him more than the common sol- 
diers, for the same reason. He knows what de- 
vastation he is likely to make among the rest, if the 
leaders fall before their eyes. He hath long prac- 
tised fighting, neither against great nor small, com* 
paratively,but these ; and of smiting the shepherds, 
that he might scatter the flock : and so great hath 
been his success, that he will follow it as far as he 
is able. Take heed therefore, brethren, for the 
enemy hath a special eye upon you. You are 
sure to have his most subtle insinuations, inces- 
sant solicitations, and violent assaults. Take heed 
to yourselves, lest he over-wit you. The devil 
is a greater scholar than you are, and a more nim- 
ble disputant : he can transform himself into an 
angel of light to deceive. He will get within 
you, and trip up your heels before you are aware : 
he will cheat you of your faith or innocence, be- 
fore you are aware : nay, he will make you believe 
it is multiplied or increased, when it is lost. 
You shall see neither hook nor line, much less 
the subtle angler himself, while he is offering you 
his bait : and his bait shall be so fitted to your 
temper and disposition, that he will be sure to find 
advantages within you, and make your own princi- 
ples and inclinations betray you ; and whenever 
he prevails against you, he will make you the in- 
struments of your own ruin. O what a conquest 
he lias got, when he makes a minister lazy and un- 



LTlCtp. 1.] REFORMED PASTOR. £6 

faithful, or draws him into some scandalous sin ! He 
then glories against the church, and says, ' These 
are your holy preachers : you see what their 
preciseness is come to !' Nay, he glories against 
Jesus Christ himself, and says, ' These are thy 
champions ! I can make thy chief servants forsake 
and abuse thee : I can make the stewards of thy 
house unfaithful.' If he did so insult against God 
upon a false surmise, and tell him he could make 
Job curse him to his face, what will he not do if he 
should prevail against us ? And at last he will insult 
and triumph over you for betraying your great 
trust, disgracing your holy profession, and doing 
such essential service to your greatest enemy. O 
do not thus gratify Satan ! Do not make him so 
much sport. Suffer him not to use you as the 
Philistines did Samson ; first to deprive you of your 
strength, then put out your eyes, and finally make 
you the subjects of his triumph and derision. 

5. Take heed to yourselves also, because there 
are many eyes upon you, and therefore many who 
watch vour conduct. If vou miscarrv, the world 
will ring with it. The eclipses of the sun by day 
are seldom without witnesses. As you have en- 
gaged to be the light of the world and the church, 
you must expect that men's eyes will be upon 
you. Although other men may sin without observa- 
tion, you cannot : and you should thankfully con- 
sider what a great mercy it is that you have so ma~ 

H 



86> REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 1. 

ny eyes to watch over you, and so many ready 
to tell you of your faults, and thereby have greater 
helps than others, at least for restraining you from 
sin ; though some may do it maliciously, yet you 
have the advantage of it. God forbid that we 
should do evil in public, and sin wilfully while 
the world is gazing on us ! " He that is drunk, 
is drunk in the night ; and he that sleepeth, doth 
sleep in the night." (1 Thess. v. 7.) What forni- 
cator so impudent as to sin ir. the open streets ? 
Consider that you are always in the open light ; 
even the light of your own doctrine will disclose 
your evil deeds. While you are as lights set upon 
a hill, do not expect to lie hid. Take heed there- 
fore to yourselves, and do your work as those 
who remember that the world is looking on them, 
and that with the quick-sighted eye cf malice ; 
ready to make the worst of all, to find the smallest 
fault where it is, to aggravate it where they find it, 
and to divulge and make it as far as possible answer 
their designs ; yea, to make faults where they can- 
not find them. How cautiously should we walk be- 
fore so many evil-minded observers 1 " See then 
that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but us 
wise, redeeming the time, because the days are 
evil." 

6. Take h^ed to yourselves, because your sins 
are more heinous than the sins of other mea. It 
fs noted among King Alphonsus's sayings, ftl^t a 



CTlftp. l.J REFORMED PASTOR. 8^ 

great man cannot commit a small sin. We may 
with more propriety say, that a teacher of others 
cannot commit a small sin ; or at least, that the sin 
is great, as committed by him, which in another 
is comparatively small. — (1.) You are more like- 
ly than others to sin against knowledge, because 
you have more than they ; at least you sin against 
more light and means of knowledge. What, do you 
not know that covetousness and pride are sins ! 
Do you not know the dreadful consequence of be- 
ing unfaithful to your trust, and by negligence or 
self-seeking to betray immortal souls ? You know 
your Master's will ; and if you do it not, you shall 
be beaten with many stripes. If you sin, it is 
because you will sin.-^-(2.) Your sins have more 
hypocrisy in them than those of other men. O 
what a heinous thing it is in us to study to say all 
we can against sin, and make it as odious to our 
people as possible* and when we have done so to 
live in it, and secretly cherish that which we 
openly defamed ! What vile hypocrisy it is to make 
it our daily work to cry sin down, and yet hug it in 
our bosom ; to declaim against it in public, and in 
private to make it our companion ; to bind heavy 
burdens on others, and not to touch them our- 
selves with a finger ! What will you say to this 
in judgment ? Do you think as ill of sin as you 
speak, or do you not ? If you do not, why do you 
dissemble? If you do, why do you commit it? 



88 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. \. 

O bear not that badge of the miserable pharisees, 
4i They say, but do not." Many a minister of the 
gospel will be confounded at last by this heavy 
charge of hypocrisy. — (3.) Your sin has more 
perfidiousness in it than that of other men. You 
are more publicly and solemnly engaged against 
it. Besides all your common engagements as 
christians, you have many more as ministers. How 
often have you proclaimed the evil and danger 
of sin, and called sinners from it ? How often 
have you declared the terrors of the Lord ? All 
these implied that you saw the evil of it, and had 
renounced it yourselves. Every sermon you 
preached against it, every private exhortation, and 
every confession of it in the congregation, laid an 
engagement upon you to forsake it. Every child 
that you have baptized, and entered into the cove- 
nant with Christ ; and every administration of the 
Lord's supper, wherein you called men to renew 
their covenant, implied that you had renounced 
the flesh and the world, and given yourselves to 
Christ. How often and how openly have you 
borne witness to the odiousness and damnable na- 
ture of sin ! And yet will you entertain it against 
all these professions and testimonies of your own ? 
O what treachery it is to make such a stir in the 
pulpit against sin, and after all to entertain it in 
the heart, and give it the room there that is due 
to God, and even prefer it before the glory of 
the saints! 



Chap. 1.] REFORMED PASTOR. 80 

Many more aggravations of your sins might be 
mentioned, but want of time obliges ns to leave them 
to your own consideration. 

7. Take heed to yourselves, because the hon- 
our of your Lord and Master, and of his truth and 
his ways, lies more on you than on other men. As 
you may do him more service, so also more dis . r- 
vice than others. The nearer men stand to God, 
the more is he dishonoured by their miscarriages, 
and the more are they imputed by foolish men to 
Clod himself. The heavy judgment recorded in 
I Sam. ii. 29, was threatened and executed on Eli 
and on his house, because thev " kicked at his 
sacrifice and offering." " For therefore was the 
sin of the young men great before the Lord, for men 
abhorred the offering of the Lord." (v. 17.) It was 
that great aggravation, of " causing the enemies of 
the Lord to blaspheme," which provoked God to 
deal so severely with David. (2 Sam. xii. 1 1 — 14.) 
If you be indeed christians, the glory of God is 
dearer to vou than life itself. Take heed there- 
fore what you do against it, as you would take heed 
what you do against your own lives. Would it not 
wound you to the heart to hear the name and truth 
of God reproached on your account ? To see men 
point to you and say, * There goes a covetuous min- 
ister, a secret tipler, a scandalous man ; these are 
they that preach up strictness, while they them- 
selves hve as loose as others ; they condemn us by 

h 2 



90 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. Is 

their sermons, and condemn themselves by their 
lives and conversation : for, notwithstanding all their 
talk, they are as bad as we. 5 O, brethren, could 
your hearts endure to hear men cast the dung of 
your iniquities in the face of the holy God, in the 
face of the gospel, and of all who desire to fear 
tho Lord ? Would it not break your hearts to think 
that all the godly christians around you should suffer 
reproach through your misdoings ? If one of you 
who is a leader of the flock, should be ensnared 
in a scandalous crime, there is scarcely a man or 
woman, who is diligently seeking salvation, within 
the hearing of it, but, besides their grief for your 
sin, are sure to have it cast in their teeth by the 
ungodly, however they may detest and lament it 
The ungodly husband will tell his wife, the ungodly 
parents their children, and neighbours and fellow- 
servants one another, saying. 'These are your godly 
preachers: you may see what comes of all your 
stir ! Are you any better than others ? Nay, you are 
all alike.' Such words as these must all the godly in 
the country perhaps hear through your miscon- 
duct. " It must needs be that offences come, but 
woe to that man by whom the offence cometh." 
Matt, xviii. 7. 

O take heed, brethren, in the name of God, of 
every word that you speak, and ever step j^ou 
tread ; for you bear the ark of the Lord ; you are 
intrusted with his honour : and dare vou cast it in 



Chap. 1.] REFORMED PASTOR. M 

the dirt ? If you " that know his will, and approve 
the things that are more excellent, being instructed 
out of the law ; and being confident that you your- 
selves are guides of the blind, and lights to them 
that are in darkness, instructors of the foolish, 
teachers of babes :" if you, I say, live contrary to 
your doctrine, and " by breaking the law dishonour 
God, the name of God will be blasphemed among 
the ignorant and ungodly through you." (Rom. ii. 
19 — 24.) And you are not unacquainted with that 
standing decree of Heaven, " Them that honour 
me, I will honour ; and they that despise me, 
shall be lightly esteemed." (1 Sam. ii. 30.) Nev- 
er did any man dishonour God but it proved the 
greatest dishonour to himself. 

8. Take heed to yourselves ; for the souls of 
your hearers, and the success of all your labours de- 
pend upon it. God generally fits men for his work 
before he employs them in accomplishing it ; and 
exercises them in those works for which they are 
prepared. If the work of the Lord be not deep and 
genuine in your own hearts, how can you expect 
that he should bless your labours for the effecting 
it in others ? He may do it if he please, but you 
have much cause to doubt whether he will. I 
shall here give you some reasons to satisfy you, 
that he who would be instrumental in savirg others, 
must take heed to himself, and that God doth sel- 
dom prosper the labours of unconverted men.— 



92 REFORMED PASTOR. [(jhctp. 1. 

(1.) Can it be expected that God should bless that 
man's labours (I mean comparatively) who work- 
eth not for <*od but for himself? Now this is the 
case with every unconverted man. None but the 
upright make God their chief end, and do all 
heartily for his honour. Others make the ministry 
but a trade to live by : they choose it rather than 
another calling, because their parents intended them 
for it ; because it is a pleasant thing to know, and is 
a life wherein they have greater opportunities of 
furnishing their intellects with all kind of science ; 
because it is not so laborious to those who wish to 
favour the flesh ; because it is accompanied with 
reverence and respect from men ; because they 
think it a fine thing to be leaders and teachers, and 
to have others depend on them, and receive the law 
at their mouth ; and because it affords them a com- 
petent maintenance. For such ends as these are 
they ministers, and for these do they preach ; and 
can it be expected that God should bless the labours 
of such men ? It is not for him they preach, but 
themselves, and their own reputation or gain ; not 
him, but themselves, that they seek and serve, and 
therefore no wonder if he leave them to themselves 
for their success — (2.) Can you suppose that he is 
likely to be as successful as others, who is not hear- 
ty and faithful in his work, does not really believe 
what he says, and is not truly serious even when 
he seems to be most diligent ? Can you suppose 
that an unholy man can be hearty and serious in 



Chap. 1.] REFORMED PASTOR. 1)3 

the ministerial work ? It cannot be. A kind of 
seriousness indeed he may have ; but the serious 
ness and fidelity of a real believer, whose ultimate 
end is the glory of God and man's salvation, this 
he has not. O sirs, all your preaching and per- 
suading of others, will be but dreaming and trifling 
hypocrisy, till the work be thoroughly wrought in 
your own hearts ! How can you set yourselves 
day and night to a work which your carnal hearts 
are averse from ? How can you call, with serious 
fervour, upon poor sinners to repent and come to 
God, who have never repented nor come to him 
yourselves ? How can you heartily follow sinners 
with importunate solicitations to flee from sin, and 
to engage in a holy life, who have never your- 
selves felt the evil of sin, nor the worth of holi- 
ness ? I tell you, these things are never properly 
known, till they are felt ; nor properly felt, till 
they are possessed : he who feels them not himself, 
is not so likely to speak feelingly of them to 
others, nor help others to the possession of them. 
How can you follow sinners with compassion in 
your hearts, and tears in your eyes, and beseech 
them in the name of the Lord to stop their course, 
and return and live, who never had so much com- 
passion on your own souls, as to do this for 
yourselves ? What, can you love other men 
better than yourselves ? and have pity on them 



94 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 1 « 

while you have none upon yourselves ? Sirs, do 
you think they will be hearty and diligent to save 
men from hell, who are not heartily persuaded 
that there is a hell ; or to bring men to heaven, who 
do not really believe that there is such a place ? 
He who hath not such a belief of the word of God 
and the life to come, as takes off his own heart from 
the vanities of this world, and causes him diligently 
to seek his own salvation, cannot be expected to be 
faithful in seeking the salvation of other men. Sure- 
ly he who dare damn himself, dare let others alone 
in the way to damnation ; and he who will sell his 
Master with Judas, for silver, will not stick to make 
merchandize of the flock I confess that man shall 
never have my consent to be intrusted with the care 
of others, and to oversee them in order to their 
salvation, who does not take heed to himself. — (3.) 
Do you think it is likely that he will fight against 
Satan with all his might, who is his servant ; or 
will he do any great harm to the kingdom of the 
devil, who is himself a subject of that kingdom; 
or will he be true to Christ who is in covenant 
with his enemy ? And this is the case with every 
unconverted man, of what cloth soever his coat is 
made. They are the servants of Satan, and the 
subjects of his kingdom, and he worketh and ruleth 
in their hearts. What prince chooses the friends 
and voluntary servants of his enemy to lead hip 
armies in war against him ? It is this that make 



CTlCip. 1.] REFORMED PASTOR. U6 

so many preachers of the gospel enemies to the 
work of the gospel which they preach. O how 
many such traitors have been in the church of 
Christ in all ages, who have done more against 
him under his colours, than they could have done 
in the open field 1 They have spoken well* of 
Christ, scripture, and godliness in general ; and yet 
slily done what they could to bring it into disgrace, 
and make men believe that those who set them- 
selves to seek God with all their hearts, were but a 
company of hypocrites, or self-conceited fanatics. 
It cannot be expected that a slave of Satan should 
be any other than an enemy to the cross of Christ. 
What though they live civilly, preach plausibly* 
and have the outside of an easy and cheap religion ; 
they may be as fast in the devil's snare by worldly 
mindedness, pride, a secret dislike of strict godli- 
ness, or by a heart that is not rooted in the faith, and 
unreservedly devoted to God in Christ, as any oth- 
ers are by drunkenness, uncleanness, and such 
egregious sins. I know that a wicked man may be 
more desirous of the reformation of others, than 
himself; and may therefore with some earnestness 
dissuade them from sin ; because he can preach 
against sin at a far easier rate than forsake it. — (4) 
Consider, that the success of your labours depends 
on the grace and blessing of the Lord ; and where 
has he promised his assistance and blessing to un- 
godly men ? If he see it good to communicate to his 
church a blessing even by such, yet he does not 



96 Heformed pastor. [Chap. 1. 

promise them a blessing. To his faithful ser- 
vants he has promised, that he will be with 
them, that he will put his Spirit upon them, 
and his word into their mouths, and that Satan 
shall fall before them as lightning from heaven. 
But where is there any such promise to the un- 
godly ? Nay, do they not rather, by their abuse 
of his goodness, provoke him to forsake them, and 
blast their endeavours, at least, as to themselves ? 
For I do not deny but that God may, and sometimes 
does do good to his church, even by unconverted 
and wicked ministers ; but not so usually, nor em- 
inently, as by his faithful servants. 



QlCtp. 2.] REFORMED PASTOR. 97 

CHAP. II. 

What it is to take heed to all the flock. It is implied 
that every flock have their own pastor or pastors ; that 
regularly the flock be no larger than the pastors can 
oversee and take heed to them all — Of the end of this 
oversight — Of the subject of this work — Of the objects 
of it; the unconverted ; the converted : the young and 
weak ; those under particular trials ; those declining 
in religion ; those exercised with great temptations; the 
disconsolate; the strong — Of the work itself. Public 
preaching ; sacraments ; public prayer, praise, and 
benediction — Oversight of the members distinctly. 
Knowing them ; instructing the ignorant ; advising them 
who seek advice ; looking to particular families; re- 
sisting seduction ; encouraging the obedient, visiting 
the sick ; comforting the distressed ; privately admon- 
ishing offenders; public discipline by admonition, 
exhortation to open repentance, and praying for the 
offender ; assisting the nenitent ; confirming, absolv- 
ing, &c. ; rejecting the obstinately impenitent : receiv 
ing the penitent into communion — The manner and 
necessity of these acts. 

Having shewed you what it is to take heed to 
ourselves, and why it must be done ; I am next to 
shew you what it is to take heed to all the jloch, where- 
in it consists, and how it must be exercised* — It was 
necessary first to consider what we must be, and what 
we must do for our own souls, before we speak of 
what we must do for others. "Lest one, whilst 
healing the wounds of others, should catch the in- 
fection himself through a negligence of his own 
safety ; or, whilst helping his neighbours, should 



98 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 2. 

forget himself, or should fall whilst raising others 
up." Yea, lest all his labours come to nought, 
because his heart and life are nought that per- 
form them. " For there are some who examine 
spiritual precepts with diligent care ; but those 
things which they clearly comprehend they trample 
upon by their manner of life. They teach hastily 
what they have learned by study without labour, 
and oppose by their morals what they preach in 
words. Hence it is that when the shepherd walks 
upon the brink of a precipice, the flock follow him 
there too." When we have led them to the living 
waters, if we muddy it by our filthy lives, we may 
lose our labour, and yet they be never the better. 
" To disturb the water with the feet, is to corrupt 
by a bad life the knowledge of divine things which 
was acquired byst^dy." 

Before we speak of the work itself, we must 
begin with what is implied and presupposed. 

1. it is here implied, that every flock should have 
their own pastor {one or more) and every pastor his 
own flock. As every troop or company in a regi- 
ment m'ist have their own captain and other offi- 
cers, and every soldier know his own commander 
and colours ; so it is the will of God that every 
church have their own pastors, and that all Christ's 
disciples know their own teachers that are over 
them in the Lord. The universal church of 
Christ consists of particular churches, guided by 



Chap. 2.] REFORMED PASTOR, 99 

their own overseers ; and every christian must 
be a member of one of these churches. " They 
ordained them elders in every church." (Tit. 
1. 5.) Though a minister be an officer in the 
universal church, yet he is in a special manner 
the overseer of that particular church which is 
committed to his charge.* From this relation of 
pastor and flock, arise all the duties which we 
mutually owe to each other. As we must be true 
to our trust, so must our people be faithful to us, 
and obey the just directions that we give them from 
the word of God. 

2. When we are commanded to take heed to all 
the flock, it is plainly implied that flocks must be 
no greater, regularly and ordinarily, than we are 
capable of overseeing or taking heed of That par- 
ticular churches should not be greater, nor minis- 
ters fewer, than is consistent with taking heed to 
all ; for God will not lay upon us impossibilities : 

* In the Methodist connexion, all the societies in a cir- 
cuit constitute the flock of each superintendent, with his 
fellow -labourer or labourers. Over these they are ap- 
pointed overseers for (he time being ; these are to feed 
and to take heed to every individual of them. To all that 
hear them in every place, they are faithfully to preach 
the word, and do all the good they can, that they may 
bring them to the knowledge of the truth as it is in 
Jesus : but tho-e in society are their special care, and 
have a claim on them for every part of the ministerial 
work ; not only public teaching, but also private and 
personal visiting and instruction. 



100 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 2. 

he will not bind us to leap up to the moon, touch 
the stars, or number the sands on the sea shore. 
If it be the pastoral work to oversee and take 
heed to all the flock , then surely there must be 
such a proportion of pastors assigned to each 
flock, or such a number of souls in the care of each 
pastor, as he is able to take such heed to as is 
here required. — It would have been well for the 
church, had the rule here laid down by the apostle 
been carefully attended to ; had the labourers al- 
ways been able and faithful, and in proportion to 
the people instrusted to their care, so that they 
might have taken heed to all the flock. 

Having told you what is here implied, I come 
next to the duty itself. This taking heed to all the 
flock is, in general, a very great care of the whole, 
and every part, with great watchfulness and dili- 
gence, in the use of all those holy actions and ordi- 
nances which God requires us to use for their salva- 
tion. 

More particularly : This work may be consid- 
ered, (1.) In respect to the subject matter of it. — 
(2.) Its objects — (3.) The work itself, or the ac- 
tions which we must perform. — (4.) The end 
of it. 

I shall begin with the last, as being first in our 
intention, though last attained. 

1. The ultimate end of our pastoral oversight is 
that which is the ultimate end of our whole life, 



Chap. 2.] REFORMED PASTOR. 101 

even pleasing and glorifying God, with which is 
connected the glory of the human nature of Christ, 
the glorification of his church, and of ourselves in 
particular : and the more immediate end of our 
office, is the sanctificatian and holy obedience of 
the people of our charge — their unity, order, 
beauty, strength, preservation, and increase ; and 
the right worshipping of God, especially in the 
solemn assemblies. By which it is manifest, that 
before a man is capable of being a true pastor of a 
church, according to the mind of Christ, he must 
have such an high estimation of these things, as 
to make them the great and only end of his life. 

1. The man, therefore, who is not himself 
taken up with the predominant love of God, is 
not himself devoted to him, and does not devote 
to him all that he has and can do — the man who 
is not in the habit of pleasing God, does not make 
him the centre of all his actions, nor live to him 
as his God and happiness ; that is, the man who 
is not a sincere christian himself, is utterly unfit 
to be pastor of a church : and unless in a case of 
the greatest necessity, the church should not ad- 
mit such, so far as they can discover them. A 
man who is not heartily devoted to God, and his 
service and honour, will never apply himself as 
he ought to the pastoral work ; nor indeed can 
he, while he remains such, do any part of that 
work, nor speak one word in christian sincerity : 

i 2 



102 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 2. 

for no man can be sincere in the use of the means, 
who does not regard the end. A man must love 
God above all, in order to serve him before all. 

2. No man is fit to be a minister of Christ who 
is not of a public spirit as to the church ; does not 
delight in her beauty, nor long for her felicity. 
As the good of the commonwealth must be the 
end of the magistrate, so must the felicity of the 
church be the end of her pastors. They must 
rejoice in her welfare, and be willing to spend 
and be spent for her sake. 

3. No man is fit to be pastor of a church who 
does not set his heart on the life to come, and 
regard the matters of everlasting life above all the 
things of this present world ; and who is not sen- 
sible, in some measure, how much the inestimable 
riches of glory are to be preferred to the trifles 
of time : for he will never set his heart on the 
work of men's salvation, who does not himself 
heartily believe and value that salvation. 

4. He who does not delight in holiness, hate 
iniquity, love the unity and purity of the church, 
abhor discord and divisions, and take pleasure 
in the communion of saints, and the public worship 
of God witk his people, is not fit to be pastor of 
a church : for none of these can have the true 
views and motives of a pastor, and therefore cannot 
do the work. The relation that subsists between 
the end and the means, and how necessary the 



Chap. 2.] REFORMED PASTOR. 103 

knowledge of the one is to a right use of the other, 
is well known. 

II. The subject matter of the ministerial work, 
is, in general, spiritual things; matters relative to 
our pleasing God, and the salvation of our people. 
It is not about temporal and transitory things. Our 
business is not to dispose of commonwealths, nor to 
touch men's purses or persons by our penalties : 
but it consists only in these two things : — (1.) In 
revealing to men that happiness, or chief good, 
which must be their ultimate end. — (2.) In ac- 
quainting them with the right means for the attain- 
ment of that end, helping them to use them, and 
deterring them from the contrary. 

1. It is the first and great work of the ministers 
of Christ to acquaint men with that God who made 
them, and is their happiness ; to open to them the 
treasures of his goodness, and tell them of the glo- 
ry that is in his presence, which all his chosen peo- 
ple shall enjoy ; that thus, by shewing men the 
certainty and the excellency of the promised feli- 
city, and the perfect blessedness of the life to 
come, in opposition to the vanities of this present 
life, we may turn the stream of their thoughts and 
affections, bring them to a due contempt of this 
world, and excite them to seek durable treasure. 
And this is the work that we should lie at with 
them night and day. Could we once get them 



104 REFORMED PASTOR. [Clldp. 2. 

right in regard of the end, and their hearts set un- 
feignedly on God and heaven, the chief part of the 
work were done ; for all the rest would undoubt- 
edly follow. — Here we must diligently shew them 
the vanity of their sensual felicity, and convince 
them of the baseness of those pleasures which they 
prefer to the delights of God. 

2. Having set before them the right end, our 
next work is to acquaint them with the means of 
attaining it. Here the evil of all sin must be made 
manifest ; the danger that it has brought us into, 
and the hurt it has already done us, must be clear- 
ly set before them. Then we have to unfold to 
them the great mystery of redemption ; the per- 
son, natures, incarnation, perfection, life, miracles, 
sufferings, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, 
glorification, dominion, and intercession, of the 
blessed Son of God ; as also the tenor of his pro- 
mises, the conditions imposed on us, the duties 
which he has commanded us, and the everlasting 
torments which he has threatened to the finally 
impenitent neglecters of his grace. O what a trea- 
sury of his blessings and graces, and the privileges 
of his saints, have we to exhibit! What a blessed 
life of holiness and communion with God have we to 
recommend to the sons of men ! And at the same 
time how many temptations, difficulties, and dan- 
gers, to disclose, and assist them against ! How- 
many precious spiritual duties have we to set them 



Chap. 2.] REFORMED PASTOR. 105 

upon, excite them to, and direct them in ! How 
many objections of flesh and blood, and oavils of 
vain men, have we to refute ! How much of their 
own corruptions and sinfel inclinations to discover 
and root out !--We have to disclose the depth of 
/rod's bottomless love and mercy, the depth of the 
mysteries of his designs, and works of creation, re- 
demption, providence, justification, adoption, sanc- 
titication, and glorification ; the depth of Satan's 
temptations, and the depth of their own hearts. 
In a word, we must teach them as much as we can 
of the whole word and works of God. O what 
two volumes are these for a minister to preach up- 
on ! How great, how excellent, how wonderful, 
how mysterious ! All christians are disciples or 
scholars of Christ, the church is his school ; we 
are his ushers ; the bible is his grammar : this it is 
that we must be daily teaching them. The papists 
teach them without a book. Lest they should learn 
heresies from the word of truth, and falsehood from 
the truth of God, they must learn only the books 
or words of their priests. But our business is to 
teach them line upon lin,e, and precept upon pre- 
cept, that we may help them to understand this 
book of God. So much for the subject matter of 
our work. 

III. The object of our pastoral care is all the 
flock ; that is, the church and every member there- 



106 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. g. 

of. We shall consider — ^1) The whole body or 
society. — (2.) The parts or individual members. 

1. Our first care must be about the whole : and 
therefore the first duties, to be done are public 
duties, which are done to the whole. As our 
people are bound to prefer public duties before < 
private, so are we much more : but this is so com- 
inonly confessed, that I shall say no more of it. 

2. That which is less understood and considered 
is, that all the flock, even each individual member 
of our charge, must be taken heed to, and watched 
over by us in our ministry. To this end it is pre- 
supposed necessary that (unless where absolute 
necessity forbids it, through the scarcity of pastors 
and greatness of the flock) we should know every 
person that belongs to our charge ; for how can we 
take heed to themifw r edo not know them ? Or 
how can we take that heed which belongs to the 
special charge that we have undertaken, if we know 
not who are of our charge, and who not ? How caa 
we tell whom to exclude till we know who are in- 
cluded ? Or how can we refute the accusations of 
the offended, who tell us of the ungodly and corrupt 
members of our churches, when we know not who 
are members, and who are not? Doubtless the 
bounds of our parishes will not tell us ; neither 
will bare hearing us discover them, as long as 
those are used to hear who are members of other 
churches, or of none at all. Nor yet is participa- 



Chap. 2.] REFORMED PASTOR. 1Q7 

tion of the Lord's supper a sure mark, while stran- 
gers may be admitted, and many members acciden- 
tally kept back. Though much probability may be 
gathered from these circumstances, yet a more full 
knowledge of our charge is necessary where it can 
be had. 

All the flock being thus known, must afterwards 
be taken heed to. One should suppose all reason- 
able men would be satisfied of this, and that it would 
need no further proof. Does not a careful shep- 
herd look after every individual sheep ; a good 
school-master look to every scholar, both with re- 
gard to instruction and correction ; a good physician 
to every patient ; and good commanders to every 
soldier ? Why then should not the teachers, the 
pastors, the physicians, the guides of the churches 
of Christ, take heed to every individual member of 
their charge ? Christ himself the great and good 
Shepherd v and Master of the church, who has the 
whole to look after, does nevertheless take care of 
every individual. In Luke xv, he tells us, that he 
is as the shepherd who " leaveth the ninety and 
nine sheep in the wilderness, to seek after one that 
w r as lost ;" or as the -" woman who lighteth a can- 
dle, and sweepeth the house, and searcheth dili- 
gently to find the one groat that was lost ; and 
having found it, doth rejoice, and call her friends 
and neighbours to rejoice." And he also assures 
us, that " eveu in heaven there is joy over one 
sinner that repenteth." The prophets were ofteu 



108 REFORMED PASTOR, [Ckap. 2. 

s£nt to single men. Ezekiel was made a watch- 
man over individuals, and commanded to say to the 
wicked, " Thou shalt surely die." (Ezek. iii. 18, 
19,) Paul taught them " publicly and from house 
to house," which was meant of his teaching par- 
ticular families ; for even the public teaching was 
then in houses : and publicly and from house to 
house> signify not the same thing. The same apos- 
tle " warned every man, and taught every man in 
all wisdom, that he might present every man per^ 
feet in Christ Jesus." (Col. i. 18.) Christ ex- 
pounded his public parables to the twelve apart. 
Every man must " seek the law at the mouth of the 
priest." (Mai. ii. 7.) We must give an account 
of our watching for the souls of all that are bound 
to obey us. (Heb. xiii. 7.) Many more passages 
in scripture assure us that it is our duty to take heed 
to every individual person in our flock : and many 
passages in the ancient councils plainly tell us, that 
it was the practice of those times, till churches began 
to be crowded, and became so large that they could 
not be guided as churches should be. But I will 
pass over all these, and mention only one passage 
in Ignatius to Polycarp : " Let assemblies be often 
gathered : seek after (or inquire of) all by name ; 
despise not the men and maidservants." You see 
it was then considered a duty to look after every 
member of the flock by name, though it were the 
meanest servant man or maid. The reasons for 
this I shall pass over now, because they will fall in 



Chap, 2.] I\EFORMED PASTOR. 109 

when we come to the duty of catechizing and per- 
sonal instruction. 



We are next to consider our work in reference 
to the several qualities of the ohject. And because we 
shall here speak of the acts with the object, there 
will need the less afterward to be said of them. 

1. The first part of our ministerial work lies in 
bringing unsound professors of the feith to sincer- 
ity, that they who before were christians in name 
onl} T , may be such indeed. Though it does not 
belong to us, as their pastors, to convert professed 
infidels to the faith, because they cannot be mem- 
bers of the church while they are such, yet it be- 
longs to us, as their pastors, to convert these 
seeming christians to sincerity , because they may 
be visible members of our churches. And though 
we be not absolutely certain that this or that man 
in particular is unsound, and unsanctiiied, yet as 
Jong as we are certain that many such are in the 
church, and have too great reason to believe that 
it is so with several individuals whom we can name, 
we have therefore ground enough to deal with 
them for their conversion. And if we be certain 
by their notorious impiety that they are no chris- 
tains, and so to be ejected from the communion 
of such ; yea, if they be professed infidels, yet we 
may deal with them for their conversion, though 
aot as their pastor*, yet as ministers of the gospel. 

K 



110 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap,. 2. 

So that for these reasons we may conclude, that the 
work of conversion is the great thing that we must 
first aim at, and labour with all our might to effect. 
Alas, the misery of the unconverted is so great, 
that it calls aloud for our compassion ! They are 
in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity, and 
Ixave yet no part nor fellowship in the pardon of 
their sins, or the hopes of glory. We have there- 
fore a work of the greatest necessity to do for 
them, even " to open their eyes, and turn them 
from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan 
unto God ; that they may receive forgiveness of 
sins, and an inheritance among them that are sanc- 
tified by faith in Christ." (Acts. xxvi. 18.) To 
soften and open their hearts to the entertainment of 
"the truth, if God peradventure will give them 
repentance to the acknowledging of it, that they may 
escape out of the snare of the devil, who are taken 
captive by him at his will." (2 Tim. ii. 25.) He who 
sees one man sick of a mortal disease, and another 
only pained with the tooth- ach, will be moved more 
to compassionate the former than the latter, and 
will surely make more haste to help him, though 
he were a stranger, and the other a son. It is so 
distressing to see men in a state of damnation, 
wherein if they should die they are eternally lost, 
that methinks we should not be able to let them alone 
either in public or private, whatever other work 
we have to do, I confess I am forced frequently 



Giap. 2.] REFORMED PASTOR. Ill 

to neglect that which would tend to the increase of 
knowledge in the godly, and may be called strong 
meat, because of the lamentable necessity of the 
unconverted. Who is able to talk of controversies 
or nice unnecessary points ; yea, or of truths of a 
lower degree of necessity, how excellent soever, 
while he sees a company of ignorant, carnal, mise- 
rable sinners, before his face, who must be changed 
or damned ? Methinks I hear them crying out for 
help, and the most speedy help ! Their misery 
speaks the louder, because they have not hearts to 
seek for help themselves. Many a time have I 
known that I had some hearers of nicer fancies, who 
looked for rarities, and were addicted to despise the 
minister, if he told them not something more than 
ordinary ; and yet I could not find in my heart to 
turn from the observation of the necessities of the 
impenitent, for the humouring of these ; nor to 
leave speaking to the apparently miserable for their 
salvation, to speak to such novelists ; no nor even 
said so much as otherwise I should have done to 
the weak for their confirmation and increase in 
grace. Methinks, as Paul's spirit was stirred with- 
in him when he saw the Athenians so addicted to 
idolatry, so it should cast us into one of his parox- 
syms, to see so many men in such manifest danger 
of being everlastingly undone ; and if by faith we 
did indeed look upon them as within a step of hell, 
it would more effectually untie our tongues than 



112 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. ft. 

Croesus's danger did the tongue of his son. He that 
will let a sinner go to hell for want of speaking 
to him, sets less by souls than the Redeemer of 
souls did, and less by his neighbour than rational 
charity will allow him to do by his greatest enemy. 
O, therefore, brethren, whosoever you neglect, 
neglect not the most miserable \ Whoever you 
pass over, forget not poor souls who are under the 
condemnation and curse of the law, and may look 
every hour for the infernal execution, if a speedy 
change do not prevent it. O, call after the im- 
penitent, and ply this great work of converting 
souls, whatever else you leave undone ! 

2. The next part of the ministerial work is tlie 
building up of those who are already truly convert- 
ed ; and according to the various states of such, 
the work is various. In general, as they are either 
young and weak, or such as are in danger of grow- 
ing worse, or already declining ; so our work is all 
reducible to these particulars ; confirmation, pro- 
gress, preservation, and restoration, 

(1.) Many of our flock are young and weak : 
though of long standing, yet of small proficiency 
and strength : and indeed it is the most common 
condition of the godly. Most of them stick in weak 
and low degrees of grace ; and it is no easy mat- 
ter to get them higher. To bring them to higher 
and stricter opinions, is very easy ; that is, to 
bring them from the truth into error, on the right 



Chap. 2.] REFORMED PASTOR. 1 13 

hand as well as on the left : but to increase their 
knowledge and gifts is not easy ; and to increase 
their graces is the hardest of all. It is very trou- 
blesome and dangerous to be weak : it exposes us 
to many snares, abates consolation and delight in 
God, prevents our enjoying the sweetness of his 
ways, makes us go to Ttfork often with much back- 
wardness, and come off with little peace or profit. 
It causes us to be less serviceable to God and man, 
to bring less honour to our Master and profession, 
and do less good to all about us. We find little 
benefit by the means we use ; we too easily play 
with the serpent's baits, and are ensnared by his 
wiles. A seducer will easily shake us ; and evil 
may be made to appear to us as good, truth as false- 
hood, sin as a duty ; and so on the contrary. We 
are less able to resist and stand in an encounter ; 
we sooner fall ; we rise with greater difficulty ; 
and are more apt to prove a reproach to our pro- 
fession. We know less of ourselves, and are more 
liable to mistake our own state, not observing cor- 
ruptions when they rise and gain advantage. In a 
word, we live to less profit both to ourselves and 
others, and are also unwilling and unready to die. 

Seeing then the case of weakness and instability 
in religion is comparatively so deplorable, how dil- 
igent should we be to cherish and increase the 
grace of such ! The strength of christians is the 
honour of the church. When men are inflamed 

k 2 



114 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 






with the love of God, live by a lively working faith, 
set light by the profits and honours of the world, 
love one another with a pure heart fervently, can 
bear and heartily forgive a wrong, and suffer joy- 
fully for the cause of Christ ; when they study to 
do good, and walk inoffensively in the world, a» 
ready to be servants of all for their good, becoming 
all things to all men in order to win them, and yet 
abstaining from the appearances of evil, and sea- 
soning all their actions with a sweet mixture of pru- 
dence, humility, zeal, and heavenly spirituality ; O 
what an honour are such to their profession ! What 
ornaments to the church ; and how eminently ser- 
viceable to God and man ! Men would sooner be- 
lieve that the gospel is indeed a word of truth and 
power, if they could see more such effects of it as 
these upon the hearts and lives of men. The 
world is better able to read the nature of religion 
in men's lives, than in the bible. They who obey 
not the word, may be won by the conversation of 
such. It is therefore a necessary part of our work, 
to labour more for the perfecting of the saints, that 
they may be strong in the Lord, and fitted for their 
Master's use. 

(2.) Another sort of converts who need our spe- 
cial help, are those that labour under some par- 
ticular distemper, which keeps under their graces, 
and makes them temptations and troubles to others, 
and a burden to themselves. Alas, too many such 



Chap. 2.] REFORMED PASTOR. 115 

there are ! Some are particularly addicted to pride, 
some to worldly-mindedness, some to this or that 
sensual desire, and many to frowardness and dis- 
turbing passions. It is our duty to do what we can 
for the assistance of all these ; partly by dissuasions 
and clear discoveries of the odiousness of the sin, 
and partly by suitable directions concerning the 
remedy, to help them to the conquest of their cor- 
ruptions. We are leaders of Christ's army against 
the powers of darkness, and must resist all the 
works of darkness wherever we find them, though 
it be in the children of light. We must be no more 
tender of the sins of the godly than the ungodly, 
nor any more befriend or favour them. By how 
much more we love the persons above others, by 
so much the more must we express it in the oppo- 
sition of their sins. And yet even here we must ex- 
pect to meet with some who are very tender and 
difficult to deal with, especially when iniquity 
has got head, and made a party, and many have fal- 
len in love with it : they will be as pettish and im- 
patient of reproof as some who are worse, and will 
even interest piety itself into their faults, and say 
that a minister who preaches against them, preach- 
es against the godly — a most heinous crime this, to 
make God and godliness accessory to their sins ! 
But the ministers of Christ must do their duty, not- 
withstanding their peevishness ; and must not so 
far hate their brother, as to forbear the plain rebut- 



116 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 2. 

ing of him, and suffer sin to lie upon his soul. 
Though it must be done with much prudence, yet 
done it must be. 

(3) Another sort to whom we must attend, are 
declining christians, who either have fallen into 
some scandalous sin, or else abated in their zeal 
and diligence, and shew us that they have lost 
their former love. As the case of backsliders is 
very distressing, so our diligence must be great for 
their recovery. It is distressing to them to lose so 
much of their life, peace, power, and usefulness, 
and to become so serviceable to Satan and his cause. 
It is distressing to us to see that all our labour is 
come to this, and that when we had taken so much 
pains with men, and had such hopes of them, all 
should be so far frustrated. And it is most distres- 
sing of all, to think that God should be dishonoured 
by those whom he has so loved, and done so much 
for ; that the enemy should get such advantage 
over them, that Christ should be so wounded in the 
house of his friends,the name of God evil spoken of 
among the wicked, and all who fear him reproach- 
ed for their sakes ! Besides, partial backsliding has 
a natural tendency to total apostasy, and will effect 
it, if special grace prevent it not. — The more dis- 
tressing the case of such is, the more lies upon us, 
and so much the more must we bestir ourselves 
for their effectual recovery. To " restore those 
who are overtaken with a fault, in the spirit of 



Chap. 2.] REFORMED PASTOR. 117 

meekness," (Gal. vi. 1, 2) and yet to see that the 
sore be thoroughly searched and healed, and the 
joint properly set again, whatever pain it cost ; 
and in all this to look to the honour of the gospel, 
and see that they rise by such free and full confes- 
sions of true repentance, that some reparation may 
thereby be made to the church, and their holy 
profession, for the wound they had given them by 
their sin, requires much skill and faithfulness. 

(4.) Another part of the ministerial work, is to 
deal with those who are fallen under some great 
temptation. Much of our assistance is needful to our 
people in such a case ; and therefore every minis- 
ter should be a man that hath much insight into the 
tempter's wiles. We should know the great varie- 
ty of them, and the cunning craftiness of all Satan's 
instruments who lie in wait to deceive, and the 
devices of the grand deceiver. Some of our peo- 
ple lie under temptations to error and heresy, es- 
pecially the young, unsettled, and most self-con- 
ceited ; and those who are most conversant or 
familiar with seducers. Young, unsettled chris- 
tians, are commonly of their mind who have most 
interest in their esteem, and most opportunity of 
familiar talk to draw them into their way : and as 
they are tinder, so deceivers want not the sparks of 
zeal to set them in a flame. A zeal for error, and 
opinions of our own, is natural, and easily kindled 
and kept alive : but it is far otherwise with the 



118 REFORMED PASTOR. [Qldp. 2. 

spiritual zeal for God. O what a deal of holy pru- 
dence and industry is necessary in a pastor, to pre- 
serve the flock from being tainted with heresies, 
and from falling into pernicious conceits and prac- 
tices ; and especially to keep them in unity and con- 
cord, and prevent the rising and increase of divi- 
sions. If there be not a remarkable conjunction of 
accomplishments, and a skilful improvement of 
parts and interests, it will hardly be done, especially 
in such times as ours, when the sign is in the head, 
and the disease is epidemical. If we do not public- 
ly maintain the credit of our ministry, and second 
it by unblameable and exemplary lives, and pri- 
vately meet with seducers, and shame them ; if we 
be not able to manifest their folly, and do not close- 
ly follow our staggering people before they fall ; 
how quickly may we give great advantage to the 
enemy, and let in such an inundation of sin and ca- 
lamity, as will not easily be again cast out 1 

Others lie under a temptation to worldly-mind- 
edness ; others to gluttony and drunkenness ; and 
others to uncleanness : some to one sin and some 
to another. A faithful pastor therefore should 
have his eye upon them all, and labour to be ac- 
quainted with their natural temperament, and also 
with their occasions or affairs in the world, and 
those with whom they live or converse, that so be 
may know where their temptations lie, and then 
speedily, prudently, and diligently help them. 



Chap. 2.] REFORMED PASTOR. 119 

(5.) Another part of our work is to comfort the 
disconsolate, and to settle the peace of our people's 
souls, and that on sure and lasting ground. To 
which end the quality of the complainants, and the 
course of their lives, must needs be known ; for all 
people must not have the same consolations that 
have similar complaints. But of this 1 have spok- 
en already elsewhere ; and there is so much said 
by many, especially by Mr. Bolton, in his Instruc- 
tions for right Comforting, that I shall say no more. 

(6.) The rest of our ministerial work is with 
those who are strong ; for they also have need of 
our assistance, partly to prevent their temptations 
and declinings, and preserve the grace they have ; 
partly to help them to a further progress and in- 
crease ; and partly to direct them in the improving 
of their strength for the service of Christ, and the 
assistance of their brethren. As also to encourage 
them, especially the aged, the tempted, and afflict- 
ed, to hold on, and to persevere, that they may at- 
tain the crown. All these are the objects of the 
ministerial work, and must be taken heed to. 

IV. Having done with our work in respect of 
its objects, I am next to speak of the acts themselves. 

1 . One part of our work; and that the most excel- 
lent, because it tends to work on many, is the pub- 
lic preaching of the word. A work this which re- 
quires greater skill, and especially greater life and 



120 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 2, 

zeal, than any of us bring to it. It is no small 
matter to stand up in the face of a congregation, 
and deliver a message of salvation or damnation, as 
from the living God, in the name of our Redeemer. 
It is no easy matter to speak so plain, that the ig- 
norant may understand us, so seriously that the 
deadest hearts may feel us, and so convincingly that 
contradicting cavillers may be silenced. I know it 
is a great dispute whether preaching be proper to 
the ministers or not. The decision seems not 
very difficult. Preaching to a congregation as 
their ordinary teacher, is proper to a minister in 
office ; and preaching t» the unbelieving world, 
(Jews, Mahometans, or Pagans) as one who has 
given up himself to that work, and is separated and 
set apart to it, is proper to a minister in office : 
but preaching to a church, or to infidels, occasion- 
ally, as an act of charity, upon an extraordinary or 
special call, may be common to others. The gov- 
ernor of a church, when he cannot preach himself, 
may in a case of necessity appoint a private man, 
pro tempore, to do it, who is able, as Mr. Thorn- 
dike has shewn. But no private man may obtrude 
without his consent, who by office is the guide and 
pastor of that church. A master of a family may 
preach to his own family, a schoolmaster to his 
scholars, and any man to those whom he is obliged 
to teach ; so that he go not beyond his ability, and 
do* it in a due subordination to church-teaching, and 



Chap. 2.] REFORMED PASTOK. 121 

not in a way of opposition and division. A man 
who is not of the trade, may do some one act of a 
tradesman, in a corporation, for his own use, his 
family, or friend ; but he may not separate himself 
to it, or set it up and make it his profession, to live 
by it, unless he have been apprentice, and made 
free. For though one man of ten thousand may do 
it of himself as well as he that has served an ap- 
prenticeship, yet that is not usually the case : and 
the standing rule must not bend to extraordinary 
cases, lest it undo all ; for that which is extraordi- 
nary and rare in such cases, the law looks upon as a 
non-e7is. But the best way to silence such teachers. 
is for those to whom it belongeth, to do it themselves 
so diligently, that the people may not have need to go 
a begging ; and to do it so judiciously and affecting- 
\y , that a plain difference may appear between them 
and the others, and that those mens works misfht be 
shamed by theirs : and also by adding holy lives, 
and unwearied diligence to high abilities, that they 
may^ keep up the reputation of their sacred office, 
so that neither seducers sor tempted ones may 
fetch matter of temptation from our blemishes or 
negligence. 

2. Another part of our pastoral work is to ad- 
minister the holy mysteries, or seals of God's cov- 
enant, baptism and the Lord's supper. This also 
is claimed by private usurpers : but I will not stand 
to discuss their claim. A great fault it is among 



122 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 2. 

ourselves ; some are careless in their manner of 
administration, others totally neglect them, and 
others lay such a stress on circumstances as to make 
them a matter of much contention, even that ordi- 
nance where union and communion is so professed. 

3. Another part of our work, is to guide our 
people, and be as their mouth in the public pray- 
ers of the church, and the public praises of God; 
as also to bless them in the name of the Lord. 
This sacerdotal part of the work is not the least, 
nor to be thrust into a corner, as by too many of us 
it is. A great part of God's service in the church 
assemblies, was wont in all ages of the church, till 
of late, to consist in public praises and eucharistical 
acts in holy communion : and the Lord's day was 
still kept as a day of thanksgiving, in the hymns and 
common rejoicings of the faithful, in special com- 
memoration of the work of redemption, and the 
happy condition of the gospel church. I am as sen- 
sible of the necessity of preaching as most others ; 
but yet methinks the solemn praises of God should 
take up much more of the Lord's day than they do 
in most places : and methinks, they who magnify 
gospel privileges, and a life of love and heavenly 
joys, should be of my mind in this ; and their 
worship should be evangelical, as their doctrine 
pretends to be. 

4. Another part of the ministerial work, is to 
have a special care and oversight of each member 
of the flock ; the parts whereof are these— -^ 



QlCip. 2. J REFORMED TASTOR. 123 

(1.) We must labour to be acquainted with the 
state of all our people as fully as we can. To 
know the persons, and their inclinations, and con- 
versation ; to know what are the sins that they are 
most in danger of, and what duties they neglect for 
the matter or manner, and what temptations they 
are most liable to : for if we know not their tem- 
perament and disease, we are likely to prove but 
unsuccessful plr^sicians. 

(2.) We must use all the means w T e can to in- 
struct the ignorant in the matters of their salvation ; 
by plain familiar words ; by giving or lending, or 
otherwise helping them to books that are fit for 
them ; by persuading them to learn catechisms ; 
and those that cannot read, to get help of their 
neighbours ; and by prevailing with their neigh- 
bours to afford them help, who have opportunities, 
and are willing to attend for that purpose. 

(3.) We must be ready to give advice to those 
who come to us with cases of conscience, especial- 
ly the great case which the Jews put to Peter, 
and the jailor to Paul and Silas : " What must we 
do to be saved V' A minister is not only for public 
preaching, but to be a known counsellor for their 
souls, as the lawyer is for their estates, and the 
physician for their bodies ; so that every man who 
is in doubts and straits, should bring his case to him, 
and desire resolution. Not that a minister should 
be troubled with every small matter, in which judi- 



124 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 2, 

cious neighbours can give them advice as well as 
he ; no more than a lawyer or physician should be 
troubled with every trifling or familiar case, where 
others can tell them as much as they : but as when 
their estate or life is in danger, they should go to 
ministers ; — as Nicodemus came to Christ ; and as 
was usual with the people to go to the priest, whose 
lips must preserve knowledge, and at whose mouth 
they must ask the law, because he is the messen- 
ger of the Lord of Hosts. And because the people 
are grown unacquainted with the office of the minis- 
try, and their own necessity and duty therein, it be- 
longs to us to acquaint them therewith, and to press 
them publicly to come to us for advice in cases of 
such great importance to their souls. We must not 
only be willing to put up with the trouble, but 
draw it upon ourselves by inviting them to come. 
What abundance of good might we do, could we 
but bring our people to this ! And doubtless much 
might be done in it, if we did our duty. How few 
have I ever heard who heartily pressed their peo- 
ple to their duty in this ! A sad case, that peo- 
ple's souk should be so injured and hazarded by 
the total neglect of so great a duty, and ministers 
scarce ever tell them of it, or awaken them to it ! 
Were they but duly sensible of the need and 
weight of this, you would have them more frequent- 
ly knocking at your doors, opening their cases to 
you, making known their sad complaints, and beg- 
ging your advice. I beseech you stir them more 



Chap. 2.] REFORMED PASTOR. 12o 

up to this for the future and perform it carefully 
when they seek your help. To this end, it is very 
necessary that we should be acquainted with prac- 
tical cases, and especially with the nature of true 
grace, and able to assist them in trying their states, 
and in resolving the main question that concerns 
their everlasting life or death. One word of sea- 
sonable and prudent advice given by a minister to 
persons in necessity, has done more good than 
man} r sermons. 

(4) We must also have a special eye upon fam- 
ilies, to see that they be well ordered, and the du- 
ties of each relation performed. The life of reli- 
gion, and the welfare and glory of church and state, 
depend much on family government and duty. If 
we suffer the neglect of this, we undo all. What 
are we likelv to do ourselves towards the reforming 
of a congregation, if all the work be cast on us 
alone, and masters of families neglect that necessarv 
duty of their own, by which they are bound to help 
us ? If any good be begun by the ministry in any 
soul in a family, a careless, prayerless, worldly 
family, is almost sure to stifle, or at least very 
much hinder it. Whereas, if you could but get 
the rulers of families to do their part, and take up 
the work where you leave it, and help forward 
with it, what abundance of good might be done ? 
I beseech you therefore do all that you can to pro- 
mote this business, if you desire the true reforma- 

l 2 



126 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 2. 

tion and welfare of your parishes ! To which end 
let these things be performed. — [1.] Get certain in- 
formation how each family is ordered, and how God 
is worshipped in them, that you may know how to 
proceed in your care over them for their further 
good. — [2.] Go now and then among them when 
they are likely to be most at leisure, and ask the 
master of the family whether he pray with them, or 
read the scriptures, or what he does. Labour to 
convince the negligent of their sin : and if you have 
opportunity, pray with them before you leave 
them, and give them an example of what you 
would have them do and how ; and get a promise 
of them, that they will be more conscientious there- 
in for the future. — [3.] If you find any unable to 
pray in tolerable expressions, through ignorance 
and want of practice, persuade them to study 
their own wants, and get their hearts affected 
with them, and to go often to those neighbours 
who do pray, that they may learn ; and in the 
meantime endeavour to get them to use a form of 
prayer, rather than none. Only tell them that 
it is their sin and shame that they have lived 
so negligently as to be unacquainted with their 
own necessities, and not know how to speak to 
God in prayer, when every beggar can find 
words to ask an alms ; and therefore tell them that 
this form is but for necessity, as a crutch to a crip- 
ple, while they cannot do so well without it : but 
they must not resolve to take up there, but to learn 



Chap. 2.] REFORMED PASTOR. 127 

to do better as soon as they can, seeing prayer 
should come from the feeling of the heart, and be 
varied both according to our necessities and obser- 
vations. Yet it is necessary for most of those who 
have not been brought up where prayer has been 
used, to begin at first with the use of a form, be- 
cause otherwise they will be able to do nothing at 
all, and from a sense of their inability wholly ne- 
glect the duty, though they desire to perform it : 
for many persons can offer up some honest requests 
in secret who are not able before others to speak 
tolerable sense. And I will not be one of them 
who would rather the duty were wholly neglected, 
or profaned and made contemptible, than encourage 
such to use a form, either recited by memory or 
read. — [4.] See that they have some profitable 
and moving book, besides the bible, in each family : 
if they have not, persuade them to buy some of 
small price and great use ; such as Whately'sNew 
Birth, and Dod on the Commandments, or some 
small moving sermons. If they be not able to buy 
them, give them some if you can : if you cannot, 
get some gentlemen or other rich persons to do it ; 
and engage them to read them at night when they 
have leisure, and especially on the Lord's day. — 
[5.] By all means endeavour to prevail with them 
to get all their children taught to read English. — 
[6.] Direct them how to spend the Lord's day \ 
how to dispatch their worldly business so as to 



128 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 2. 

prevent encumbrances and distractions ; and when 
they have been at the assembly, how to spend the 
time in their families. The life of religion lies 
much in this, because poor people have no other 
considerable portion of leisure time ; and therefore 
if they lose this, they lose all, and will remain igno- 
rant and brutish. Especially persuade them to 
these two things : If they cannot repeat the sermon, 
or otherwise spend the time profitably at home, that 
they take their family with them, and go to some 
godly neighbour who spends it better, that by join- 
ing with them they may have more help : That the 
master of the family will every Lord's-day night 
cause all his family to repeat the catechism 
to him. and give him some account of what they 
have learned in public that day.— [7.] If there be 
any in the family who are known to be unruly, give 
the ruler a special charge concerning such ; and 
make them know what a sin it is to connive at 
and tolerate them. 

Neglect not therefore this necessary part of your 
work. Get masters of families to perform their 
duty, and they will save you much labour with the 
rest, or at least greatly further the success of your 
labours. If a captain can get his lieutenant, cor- 
net, and other inferior officers, to do their duty, he 
may rule the soldiers with less trouble, than if all 
lay upon his own hand alone. You are not likely 
to see a general reformation, till you secure family 



Chap. 2.] REFORMED PASTOR. 129 

reformation. Some little obscure religion there 
may be in here and there one ; but while it sticks 
in single persons, and is not promoted by these 
societies, it is not likely to prosper, nor promise 
much for future increase. 

(5.) Another part of the work of our private 
oversight consists in vigilantly opposing seducers ; 
seeking to prevent the infection of our flock, and 
speedily reclaiming those who begin to itch after 
strange teachers, and turn into crooked paths. 
When we hear of any who lie under the influence 
of their temptations, or who are already deceived 
by them, we must immediately with all our skill 
and diligence labour to recover them. The means 
I shall point out in the directions at the end. 

(6) Another part of our oversight lies in the due 
encouragement of those who are humble, upright, 
obedient christians, profit by our teaching, and are 
an honour to their profession. We must, in the 
eyes of all the flock, put some difference between 
them and the rest, by our praises, special familiar- 
ity, and other testimonies of our approbation, and 
rejoicing over them, that we may encourage them, 
and excite others to imitate them. God's graces 
are amiable and honourable in all, even in the 
poorest of the flock as well as in the pastors ; and 
the smallest degrees must be cherished and en- 
couraged, but the highest more openly honoured 
and propounded to imitation. They who have 



130 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 2> 

slighted the most gracious, because they were of 
the laity, while they claimed to themselves the 
honour of being their clergy, though adorned with 
little or none of that grace which shone in them ; 
as they thereby shewed themselves to be proud 
and carnal, so did they take the direct way to 
debase themselves by self exaltation, and to bring 
the office itself into contempt. For if there be no 
honour due to the real sanctity of a christian, 
much less is there any due to the relative sanctity 
of a pastor. 

(7.) Another part of our oversight consists in vis- 
iting the sick, and helping them to prepare either 
for a holy life or a happy death. Though this be 
the business of all our life and their's, yet at such a 
season it requires extraordinary care both of them 
and us. When time is almost gone, and they must 
be now or never reconciled to God, and possessed 
of his grace, O how much it concerns them to re- 
deeni those hours, and lay hold upon eternal life! 
And when we see that we are likely to have but a 
few days or hours more to speak to them, in order 
to their endless state, what man who is not an infi- 
del or a block, but would be with them, and do all 
he can for their salvation in that short space ! 

Will it not awake and melt us to compassion to 
look upon a languishing man, and think that within a 
few days his soul will be in heaven or hell ? Sure- 
ly it will try the faith and seriousness of ministers 



Chap, 2.] REFORMED PASTOR. 131 

and others to be with dying men I There they 
have many opportunities of discerning whether 
they themselves are in good earnest about the life 
to come. So great is the change which is made 
by death, that it should awaken us to the greatest 
sensibility to see a man near it, and should provoke 
us, in the deepest pangs of compassion, to do the 
office of inferior angels for the soul before it de- 
parts from the flesh, that it may be ready for the 
convoy of superior angels, to transmit it to the pre- 
pared glory when it is removed from sin and mise- 
ry. When a man is almost at his journey's end, 
and the next step puts him into heaven or hell, it 
is time for us to help him, if we can, while there is 
hope. Could they have any hope that it would 
be their ultima linea rerum, and that they would 
have no more to suffer when that dismal day is past, 
they might have such abatements of their terror as 
to die like brutes. But it is so far otherwise, that 
death itself is the smallest matter that they need 
to care for. 

And as their present necessity should move us to 
take that opportunity for their good, so should the 
advantage that sickness and the foresight of death 
aUbrds. There are few of the stoutest hearts but 
will hear us on their death-bed. They will then 
let fall their fury, and be as tame as lambs, who 
were before as untractable as wasps or mad men. 
A man may speak to them then who could not be- 



132- REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 2'. 

fore. I find not one in ten of the most obstinate 
pid scornful wretches in the parish, but, when they 
come to die, will humble themselves, confess their 
fault, seem penitent, and promise if they should 
recover to do so no more. If the very meditation 
of death be so effectual in time of health, how 
much more when it comes in, as it were at the 
window^ and looks men in the face ! Oh how de- 
terminately will the worst of them seem to cast 
away their sins, promise reformation, and cry out 
against their folly, and against the vanity of this 
world, when they see that death is in good earnest 
with them, and that they must die without delay I 
Perhaps you will say that these forced changes are 
not genuine, and therefore we have no great hope 
of doing them any saving good. I confess it is very 
common to be frighted into ineffectual purposes at 
such a season without being converted to fixed 
resolutions. It should make both them and us the 
more diligent in the time of health. 

It will also be useful to ourselves to read such 
lectures of our own mortality. It is better to go 
to the house of mourning than to the house of feast- 
ing ; for it tends to make the heart better when we 
see the end of all living, and what it is that the 
world will do for those who sell their salvation for 
it. When we see that death spares none, it will 
excite us the better to consider the use of faith and 
holiness, which are to prepare us for death and 



Chap. 2.] REFORMED PASTOR. 133 

heaven, that we escape hell, and be happy for- 
ever. 

Because I do not intend a directory for the 
whole ministerial work, I will not here tell you 
particularly what must be done for men in the last 
extremity ; but only remind you of these three or 
four things. 

(1) Delay not till strength and understanding are 
gone, .and the time so short that you scarce know 
what to do ; but go to them as soon as you hear 
that they are sick, whether they send for you 
or not. 

(2.) When the time is so short that there is no 
opportunity for attempting their conversion in that 
distinct way which is usual with others, nor to 
press truths upon them in such order, we must 
therefore be sure to insist upon those truths which 
must do the great work ; shewing them the certain- 
ty and glory of the life to come, the way in which it 
was purchased for us, and the great sin and folly of 
their having neglected it in the time of health ; and 
yet the possibility which there is of obtaining it, if 
they do but close with it heartily as their happi- 
ness, and with the Lord Jesus as the way thereto ; 
abhorring themselves for their former evil, and 
now unfeignedly resigning themselves up to him 
to be justified, sanctified, ruled, and saved. Three 
things must be chiefly insisted on. — [1] The end ; 
the certainty and greatness of the glory of the saints 

M 



134 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 2. 

in the presence of God, that their hearts may be 
set upon it. — [2.] The sufficiency and necessity 
of the redemption by Jesus Christ, and the fulness 
of the Spirit, which they may and must be made 
partakers of. This is the principal way to the 
end, and the nearer end itself. — [3.] The neces- 
sity and nature of repentance, faith, and resolutions 
for new obedience, according as there shall be op- 
portunity. This is the subservient w r ay, or the 
means that, on our part, must be performed. — 
[4.] Labour, upon their being convinced and 
brought to serious deliberation, to engage them by 
solemn promise to Christ, and new obedience ac- 
cording to their opportunity, especially if you see 
any likelihood of their recovery. — [5.] If they do 
recover, be sure to put them in mind of their 
promises. Go to them purposely to set them home 
upon their heart, and reduce them to the perfor- 
mance : and whenever you see them remiss, go to 
them, and remind them of what they formerly said. 
Because it is of such use to them who recover, and 
has been a means of the conversion of many a soul, 
it is very necessary that you go also to them 
whose sickness is not mortal, as well as to them 
who are nearer death ; that so you may have some 
advantage to move them to repentance, and engage 
them to newness of life, and may afterwards have 
this to plead against their sins. As a bishop of 
Colen is said by ^Eneas Silvius to have answered 
the Emperor Sigismund, when he asked him what 



Chap. 2.] REFORMED PASTOR. 135 

was the way to be saved ; that ' he must be what 
he purposed or promised to be when he was last 
troubled with the stone and the gout.' 

8. Another part of our ministerial oversight 
consists in the right comforting the consciences of 
those who are troubled, and settling our people in 
a well-grounded peace. But this I have spoken of 
elsewhere, and others have done it more at 
large. 

9. Another part of this oversight consists in re- 
proving and admonishing those who live offensive- 
ly or impenitently, and in receiving the information 
of those who have admonished them more pri- 
vately in vain. Before we bring such matters to 
the congregation, or to a representative church, it 
is ordinarily most fit for the minister to try himself 
what he can do privately to bring the sinner to re- 
pentance, especially if it be not a public crime. A 
great deal of skill is here required^ and difference 
must be made according to the various tempers of 
offenders : but with the most it will be necessary 
to begin with the greatest plainness and power, in 
order to shake their careless hearts, and make 
them see what it is to dally with sin ; to let them 
know the evil of it, and its sad effects ; its cruelty, 
unreasonableness, unprofitableness, and other ag- 
gravations 5 what it is that they do against God and 
themselves. For the manner, the following direc- 
may be here applied. 



136 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 2. 

10. The next part of our oversight lies in the 
use of church-discipline ; which, after the aforesaid 
private reproofs, consists — In more public reproof 
— Persuading the person to suitable expressions of 
repentance — Fraying for them — Restoring the pen • 
itent — Excluding and avoiding the impenitent — (1.) 
And for reproof, these things must be observed ; 
That the accusations of none, no not the most res- 
pectable and best in the church, be taken without 
proof, nor rashly entertained, nor that a minister 
should make himself a party till he have sufficient 
evidence of the case. It is better to let many vi- 
cious persons go unpunished, oruncensured, when 
we want full evidence, than to censure one unjustly 
which we may easily do if we go upon presump- 
tions, which is sure to bring on the pastors the scan- 
dal of partiality, and of unrighteous and injurious 
dealing, and thereby cause all their reproofs and 
censures to become contemptible. — (2.) Let there 
be therefore a less public meeting of chosen per- 
sons, (the officers and some delegates of the church 
on their behalf) to have the hearing of all such 
cases before they be made more public. Once a 
month, at a set place, they may come together to 
receive whatever charge shall be brought against 
any member of the church, that it may be consider- 
ed whether it be just, and the offender may be 
spoken to then ; and if the fault be either less 
public, or less heinous, so that a less public 
profession of repentance may satisfy, then, if 



Clwp. 2.] REFORMED PASTOR. 137 

the party shall there profess repentance, it may 
suffice. — (3.) But if it be not so, or if the party re- 
main impenitent, he must be reproved before all, 
and there again invited to repentance. This duty 
is not the less because our brethren have made so 
little conscience of the practice of it. It is not 
only Christ's command to tell the church, but Paul's 
to rebuke such before all ; and the church had con- 
stantly practised it till selfishness and formality 
caused them to be remiss in this and other duties 
together ; and the Reformers have as much stood 
up for it as the rest ; yea, and we are as deeply 
engaged by vows, covenants, prayers, and other 
means, for the execution of it, as any who have 
gone before us. Austin says, " Those sins which 
are committed before all, must be reproved before 
all, that all may fear. Reprove in secret them 
who offend thee in secret ; for if thou alone know- 
est the guilty person, and would reprove him be- 
fore others, thou art not a corrector, but a betray- 
er." Gregory the Great in his register says, " Pub- 
lic sins are not to be done away by private cor- 
rection : but they who offend openly must be open- 
ly reproved ; that, whilst they are amended by pub- 
lic reproof, others, who have transgressed by im- 
itating them, may be corrected : for, whilst one is 
reproved, many are amended ; and it is better that 
one should be condemned for the safety of many 5 

than that many should be exposed to danger through 

m 2 



133 REFORMED PASTOR. [Qldp. 2. 

the licentiousness of one." Isidore says, " He 
who when admonished privately, does not amend of 
his fault, must be publicly reproved ; so that the 
wound which could not be healed privately must 
be cured in public. If any one say we shall thus 
be guilty of defaming men by publishing their 
crimes ; I answer in the words of Bernard, " When 
vice is found fault with, and thence a scandal aris- 
eth, he himself is the cause of the scandal, who 
did that which ought to be reproved, not he who 
gave the reproof. Therefore fear not that you act 
contrary to charity, when you punish the offence 
of one according as it deserves, for the peace of 
many ; for it is better that one should perish than 
that unity be destroyed." There is no room for a 
doubt whether this be our duty, or whether we 
are unfaithful as to the performance of it. I fear 
many of us who would be ashamed to omit preach- 
ing or praying, do not consider what we have done 
by living in the wilful neglect of this duty and the 
rest of discipline so long. We little think how we 
have drawn the guilt of swearing, and drunkenness, 
and fornication, and other crimes, upon our own 
heads, for want of using God's means for the cure of 
them. As Gregory says, " He who does not cor- 
rect things which ought to be done away, commits 
them ; and he incurs the guilt of a perpetrator who 
neglects to amend what he might correct." Anoth- 
er says, " If you know me to have done any thing 



Chap, 2.] REFORMED PASTOR. io9 

improperly or wickedly, and do not blame me for it, 
you yourself are to be reproved." Plaut. 

If any say, ' There is little probability that pub- 
lic personal reprehension should do good to them, 
because they will be enraged by the shame,' I an- 
swer, [1.] Philo, a jew, could say (de Sacrif. Abel 
&. Cain) y We must endeavour, as far as we are 
able, to save those from their sins that shall cer- 
tainly perish ; imitating good physicians, who, 
w r hen they cannot save a sick man, do yet willing- 
ly try all means for cure, lest they seem to want 
success through their own negligence.'* — [2.] It 
ill becomes creatures to represent the ordinances 
of God as useless, or to reproach his service in- 
stead of doing it, and set their wits against their 
Maker. God can make use of his own ordinances, 
or else he never would have appointed them. — 
[3.] The usefulness of this discipline is apparent, 
because it defames sin, and humbles the sinner ; 
and manifests the holiness of Christ, his doctrine, 
and his church, before all the world. — [4.] What 
would you do with such sinners ; give them up as 
hopeless ? That would be too cruel. W T ould 
you use other means ? Why it is supposed that all 
others have been used without success ; for this 
is the last remedy. — [5.] The church of Christ 
found sufficient reason to use this course, even 
in times of persecution, when our carnal reason 
would have told them, that they should then, 



140 KEFORiMED PASTOR. [Chap. 2. 

above all times, have forborne it, for fear of driv- 
ing away all their converts. — [6.] The principal 
use of this public discipline is not for the offender 
himself, but for the church. It tends exceedingly 
to deter others from the like crimes, and keep 
pure the congregations and their worship. Sene- 
ca could say, ' He transmits vice to posterity, 
who pardons present faults :' and elsewhere, ' He 
hurts the good, who spares the wicked.' If you 
say, that it will but restrain them as hypocrites, 
and not convert them ; I answer, it may preserve 
others ; and who knows how God may bless his 
ordinance, even to those concerned. The re- 
straint of sin is also a benefit not to be contemned. 
' I will dare (said Seneca the moralist) to shew 
the offender his faults : if I cannot totally destroy 
his vices, I will restrain them. They may not 
totally end, but they may cease for a time ; and 
perhaps, by a habit of ceasing sometime, they 
may end at last." 

After the duty of public reproof, the person or 
persons must be exhorted to repentance, and to 
the public profession of it for the satisfaction of 
the church : for as the church is bound to avoid 
communion with impenitent and scandalous sin- 
ners, so when they have had the evidence of their 
sin, they must see some evidence of their repent- 
ance ; for We cannot know them to be penitent 
without evidence : and what evidence is the 



Chap. 2.] REFORMED PASTOR. 141 

church capable of, but their profession of repent- 
ance first, and their actual reformation after- 
wards ? Both of which must be expected. 

To these may most fitly be adjoined the pub- 
lic prayers of the church, and that both for the 
reproved before they are rejected, and for the 
rejected that the} r may repent and be restored. 
But we are now upon the former. Though this 
is not expressly affixed to discipline, yet we have 
sufficient discovery of God's will concerning it in 
the general precepts. We are commanded to 
pray always, and in all things, and for all men, and 
in all places, and all things are said to be sanctified 
by it. It is plain therefore that such a great busi- 
ness as this should not be done without prayer. 
And who can have any just reason to be offended 
with us, if we pray to God to change their hearts, 
and pardon their sins. It is therefore in my judg- 
ment a very laudable practice of those churches 
which for the three next days desire the congre- 
gation to join in earnest prayer to God for the 
opening of the sinner's eyes, softening of his 
heart, and saving him from impenitency and eter- 
nal death ! And though we have no express di- 
rection in scripture just how long we shall stay, 
to try whether the sinner be so impenitent as to 
be necessarily excluded, yet we must follow the 
general directions, with such diversity as the case 
and quality of the person and former proceedipg 



142 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap.2\ 

shall require, it being left to the discretion of thi 
church, who are in general to stay till the persoi 
manifest himself obstinate in his sin : not but thai 
a temporary exclusion, called suspension, ma; 
often be inflicted in the mean time : but before we| 
proceeded to an exclusion a statu, it is highly prop- 
er in most cases that prayer be made for threel 
days, and patience exercised towards him who is| 
to be excluded. 

And indeed I see no reason why this course 
should not be much more frequent than it is ; and 
that not only with regard to those who are members 
of our special charge, and consent to discipline, but 
even those who deny our pastoral oversight and 

discipline, and yet are our ordinary hearers. For 
so far as men have christian communion, or fa- 
miliarity with us, so far are they capable of be- 
ing excluded from that communion. Though the 
members of our special charge have more full 
and special communion, and so are capable of a 
more full and special exclusion ; yet all those 
who dwell among us, and are our ordinary hearers, 
have some communion. For as they converse 
with us, so they hear the word, not as heathens, 
but as christians, and members of the universal 
church into which they have been baptized : and 
they join with us in public prayers and praises, and 
in the celebration of the Lord's day. From this 
therefore they are capable of being excluded, or 
from part of this, at least morally, if not locally. 



Qiap. 2.] REFORMED PASTOR. 143 

For the precept of avoiding, and withdrawing from 
and not eating with such, is not restrained to the 
members of a governed church, but extended to all 
christians who are capable of communion. 

When these ungodly persons are sick, we have 
daily bills from them to request the prayers of the 
congregation : and if we must pray for them against 
sickness and temporal death, I know no reason why 
we should not much more earnestly pray for them 
against sin and eternal death. That we have not 
their consent is no reason : for that is their sin and 
disease ; and we do not consider it sober arguing to 
say, ' I may not pray for such a man against his sick- 
ness because he is sick ;' or, ' If he were not sick, 
I would pray against his sickness.' No more is it to 
say, ' If he were not impenitent so as to refuse our 
prayers, I would pray that he might be saved from 
his impenitency.' I confess I do not consider my- 
self to have so strict a charge over this sort of men, 
w r ho renounce my oversight, as over those who 
own it ; and that is the reason why I have not cal- 
led more of them to public repentance, because it 
requires in general more time to examine the mat- 
ter of fact, and to deal with the person first in pri- 
vate, that his impenitency maybe discerned, than I 
can possibly spare from the duties which I owe to 
my special charge, to whom I am more indebted. 
But though I cannot use any such discipline on all 
that sort, nor am so much obliged to do it, yet some 
of them who are most notoriously and openly wick- 



144 REFORMED PASTOR'. [Chap. 42. 

ed, where less proof and shorter debates are re- 
quisite, I intend to deal thus with hereafter, hav- 
ing found some success in that way already. But 
specially to all those whom we take for members of 
that particular church of which we are pastois, 
there is no question but this is our duty. And 
therefore where the whole parish are members 
discipline must be exercised on the whole. 

I confess much prudence is necessary in such 
proceedings, lest we do more hurt than good ; but 
it must be Christian prudence that orders duties, 
and suits them to their ends, and not such carnal 
prudence as shall enervate or exclude them. It 
may be fit therefore for younger ministers to con- 
sult with others, for the more cautious proceeding 
in such works. And in the performance of it we 
should deal humbly even when we deal most 
sharply, and make it appear that it is not from any 
lordly disposition, nor an act of revenge for any 
injury, but a necessary duty which we cannot con- 
scientiously avoid : and therefore it will be meet 
that we disclaim all such animosities, and shew the 
people the commands of God, obliging us to what 
we do. 

" Neighbours and brethren, sin is so hateful an 
evil in the eyes of the most holy God, how light 
soever impenitent sinners make of it, that he has 
provided the everlasting torments of hell for the 
punishment thereof ; and no less means could pre- 



Chap. 2.] REFORMED PASTOR. W 

rent that punishment than the sacrifice of the 
blood of the Sen of God, applied to those who 
truly repent and forsake their sins ; and therefore 
GFod, who calls all men to repentance, has com- 
manded us to exhort one another daily, while it is 
called to-day, lest any be hardened through the 
deceitfulness of sin ; and that we do not hate our 
brother in our heart, but in any wise rebuke our 
neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him ; and that 
if our brother offend us, we should tell him his 
fault between him and us alone, and if he hear not, 
take two or three, and if he hear not them tell the 
church, and if he hear not the church he must be 
to us as a heathen or a publican ; and those who 
sin we must rebuke before all, that others may 
fear ; and rebuke with all authority ; yea, were it 
an apostle of Christ that should openly sin, he 
must be openly reproved, as Paul did Peter ; and 
if they repent not we must avoid them, and with 
such not so much as eat* According to these- 
commands of the Lord, having heard of the scan- 
dalous practices of N. N. of this church, or so- 
ciety, and having received sufficient proof that he 

has committed the odious sin of ; we have 

seriously dealt with him to bring him to repent- 
ance, but to the grief of our hearts perceive no 

* Heb. iii. 13. Lev. xix. 17/Matt. xviii. 17. 1 Tim. v. 
20. Titus i. 15. Gal ii. 11, 14. 2. Thess. iii. 6, 12, 14* 
1 Cor. v. 11, 13. 



14& REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 2, 

satisfactory success of our endeavours — he still 
remains impenitent, or still lives in the same sin, 
though he verbally prcfess repentance. We do 
therefore judge it our necessary duty to proceed 
to the use of that further remedy which Christ has 
commanded us to try ; and hence we desire him 
in the name of the Lord, without any further delay, 
to lay aside his obstinacy against the Lord, and to 
submit to his rebuke, and lay to heart the great- 
ness of his sin, the wrong he has done to Christ 
and to himself, and the scandal and grief that he 
has caused to others; and how unable he is to 
contend with the Almighty, and prevail against the 
holy God, who to the impenitent is a consuming 
fire ; or how he can save himself from his fiery 
indignation ! And I earnestly beseech him, for the 
sake of his own soul, that he will but soberly con-* 
sider what he can gain by his sin and impenitency ; 
whether it will pay for the loss of everlasting life, 
and how he thinks to stand before God in judg- 
ment, or appear before the Lord Jesus when death 
shall snatch his soul from his body, if he be found 
in this impenitent state ? Wken the Lord Jesus 
himself, in whose blood they pretend to trust, hath 
told such with his own mouth, that except tbey 
repent, they shall all perish. And I beseech him 
for the sake of his own soul, and as a messenger 
of Jesus Christ, require him, as he will answer the 
contrary at the bar of God, that he lay by the 



Chap. 2.] REFORMED PASTOR. 147 

stoutness and impenitency of his heart, and un- 
feignedly confess and lament his sin before God 
and this congregation ! And this desire I here 
publish, not out of any ill will to his person, as the 
Lord knows, but out of love to his soul, and in 
obedience to Christ, who has made it my duty ; 
desiring that, if it be possible, he may be saved 
from his sin, from the power of Satan, and from 
the everlasting wrath of God, and may be recon- 
ciled to God, and to his church ; and therefore, 
that he may be humbled by true contrition, be- 
fore he be humbled by remediless condemna- 
tion." 

Thus, or to this purpose, I conceive our pub- 
lic admonition should proceed ; and in some cases 
where the sinner looks upon his sin as smaM, the 
aggravation of it will be necessary, especially the 
citing of some texts p of scripture to that pur- 
pose. 

And in case he either will not be present, that 
such admonition maybe given him, or will not be 
brought to a discovery of repentance, and to de- 
sire the prayers of the congregation, it will be 
necessary that w r ith such a preface as this already 
expressed, we desire the pra}*ers of the congrega- 
tion for him ourselves ; that the people would 
consider what a fearful condition the impenitent 
are in, and have pity on a poor soul that is so blind- 
ed and hardened by sin and Satan, that he cannot 



24& REFORMED FASTOR. [C7wzp. 2. 

pity himself; and think what it is for a man to 
appear before the living God in such a case ; and 
therefore that they would join in earnest prayer 
to God, that he would open his eyes, and soften 
and humble his stubborn heart, before he be be- 
yond remedy : and accordingly let us be very earn- 
est in prayer for sucfy that the congregation may 
be provoked affectionately to join with us ; and 
who knows but God may hear our prayers, and 
cause the sinner's heart to relent. However, the 
people will perceive that we do not make light of 
sin, nor preach to them from mere custom or 
formality. If ministers would be conscientious in 
thus carrying on the entire work of God self -deny- 
ingly, they might make something of it, and ex- 
pect a greater blessing. But when we shrink from 
all that is dangerous or ungrateful, and shift off all 
that is costly or troublesome, we cannot expect 
that any great matter should be done by such a 
carnal partial use of means ; and though some may 
be here and there called home to God, yet we can- 
not expect that the gospel should prevail, and run, 
and be glorified, where it is so lamely and defec- 
tively carried on. 

When a sinner is thus admonished and prayed 
for, if it please the Lord to open his eyes and 
give him remorse, before we proceed to any fur- 
ther censure, it is our next duty to proceed to his 
full recovery, where these things must be observ- 



QlCtp. 2.] REFORMED PASTOR. 149 

ed. — (1.) That we do not discourage him hy too 
much severity, nor yet by too much lenity make 
nothing of discipline, nor help him to any saving 
cure ; but merely slubber it over. If therefore 
he have sinned scandalously but once, if his re- 
pentance seem deep and serious, we may in some 
cases restore him at that time ; that is, if the 
wound he has given to the credit of the church be 
not so deep as to require more ado for satisfaction, 
or the sin so heinous as may cause us to delay. 
But if it be so, or if he have lived long in the sin, 
it is most proper that he wait in penitence a con- 
venient time before he be restored. — (2.) And 
when the time comes, whether at the first confes- 
sion or after, it is meet that we urge him to be se- 
rious in his humiliation, and set at home upon his 
conscience, till he seem to be truly sensible of 
his sin ; for it is not a vain formality, but the re- 
covery and saving of a soul that we expect and 
labour For. — (3.) We must see that he beg the 
communion of the church, and their prayers to 
God for his pardon and salvation. — (4.) And that 
he promise to flee from such sins for the time to 
come, and watch more narrowly, and walk more 
circumspectly. — (5.) Then we have these things 
more to do : To assure him of the riches of God's 
lore, and the sufficiency of Christ's blood to par- 
don and wash away his sins ; and that, if his re- 
pentance be sincere, the Lord pardons him, of 

N 2 



150 , REFORMED PASTOR. \Cliap. 2. 

which we are authorized as his messengers to 
assure him : To charge him to persevere and 
perform his promises, avoid temptations, and con- 
tinue to beg mercy and strengthening grace : To 
charge the church that they imitate Christ in for- 
giving, and retain (or if he were cast out, receive) 
the penitent person into their communion, and that 
they nerer reproach him with his sins, nor cast 
them in his teeth, but forgive and forget them as 
Christ does. 

The next part of discipline, is the rejecting and 
removing from the church's communion those who, 
after sufficient trial, remain impenitent ; where 
note — (1.) That if a man have sinned but once 
in a scandalous manner, it is only a profession of 
repentance that we can expect for our satisfaction ; 
but if he be accustomed to sin, or have often broke 
such promises, then it is an actual reformation that 
we must expect. And therefore he who will refuse 
either to reform, or to pr9fess and manifest repent- 
ance, is to be taken by us as living in his sin ; for a 
henious sin but once committed is morally contin- 
ued in till it be repented of, and a bare forbearing 
of the act is not sufficient. — (2.) Yet have we no 
warrant to rip up matters that are worn out of the 
public memory, and so make that public again 
which has ceased to be so, at least not in ordinary 
cases. — (3.) Exclusion from church-communion, 
commonly called excommunication, is of divers 



CJiap.2.] REFORMED PASTOR. 151 

sorts, or degrees, more than two or three, which 
are not to he confounded ; of which I shall not 
now treat. — (4.) That which we are most common- 
ly called to practise is, only to remove an impeni- 
tent sinner from our communion, till it shall please 
the Lord to give him repentance. — (5.) In this 
exclusion, or removal, the minister, or governors of 
that church, are authoritatively to charge the peo- 
ple in the name of the Lord to avoid communion 
with him, and to pronounce him one whose commu- 
nion the church is bound to avoid ; and the people's 
duty is obedientially to avoid him, in case the pas- 
tor's charge contradict not the word of God, So 
that he has the guiding or governing power ; and 
they have a discerning power, whether his charge 
be just ; and an executive power, for it is they that 
must execute the sentence in part by avoiding the 
rejected, as he himself must execute it by denying 
him those church-ordinances and privileges where- 
of he is the administrator. — -(6.) It is very conveni- 
ent to pray for the repentance and restoration of 
the person or persons excommunicated. — (7.) And 
if God shall give them repentance, they are gladly 
to be received into the communion of the church 
again. 

Of the manner of all these I shall say no more. 
so much having been said of them already ; and for 
the manner of other particular duties, of which I 



REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 2. 

have said little or nothing, you have much already, 
particularly in the Directory of the late Assembly. 
O that we were but so far faithful in the practice 
of this discipline, as we are satisfied both of its 
matter and manner ; and did not reproach it by our 
negligence, while we write and plead for it with 
the highest commendations. It is worthy our con- 
sideration, who are likely to have the heaviest 
charge concerning this matter at the bar of God ? 
Whether those deluded ones who have reproached 
and hindered discipline by their tongues, because 
they knew not its nature and necessity ; or we who 
have vilified it by our constant omission, while with 
our tongues we have magnified it ? If hypocrisy 
be no sin, or if the knowledge of our Master's will 
be riO aggravation of the evil of disobedience, then 
are we in a better case than they. I will not ad- 
vise the zealous maintainers and obstinate neglect- 
ers and rejecters of discipline to unsay all that 
they have said, till they are ready to do as they 
say ; nor to recant their defences of discipline, till 
they mean to practise it ; nor to burn all the books 
that they have written in favour of it, and all the 
records of their costs and hazards, lest they rise up 
in judgment against them to their confusion. But I 
would persuade them without further delay, to con- 
form their practice to these testimonies which 
they have given, lest the more they are proved to 
have commended discipline, the more they be 



Chap. 2.] REFORMED PASTOR. 153 

proved to have condemned themselves, for neglect- 
ing it. 

I have often marvelled that the men who have 
been much offended at the books that have been 
written for free admission to the Lord's supper, or 
for mixed communion in that one part, have not 
been more offended at as free admission to otber 
parts of church-communion. I should thmfc that 
it is a greater profanation to permit an obstinate, 
scandalous sinner, to be a stated member of that 
particular church, without first private, and then 
public admonition, prayer for him, or censure of 
him ; than for a single pastor to admit him to the 
Lord's supper, if he have no power to censure him,, 
as these suppose. I should think that the faithful 
practice of discipline in the other parts would soon 
put an end to the controversy about free admission 
to the Lord's supper, and heal the hurt which such 
discourses have done to our people. For those 
discourses have more modesty than to plead for a 
free admission of those who are already censured 
or rejected ; but only of those who have yet their 
standing in that church, and are not censured. — 
And if when they forfeit their title to church com- 
munion, we would deal with them in Christ's ap- 
pointed way, till we had either reclaimed them to 
repentance or censured them to ba avoided, it 
would be past controversy then that they were- not 



t 






154 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 2. 

to be admitted to that one act of communion in the 
supper who are justly excluded from the whole. 
But as long as we leave them uncensured mem- 
bers, and tell a single pastor that he has no power 
to censure them, we tempt him to think that he has 
no power then to deny them that communion with 
the body which is the common privilege of all un- 
censured members. 

And as we thus ourselves oppose discipline in 
part, or cherish church-corruption in part, one 
party being for the free admission of them, while 
members, to the sacraments, and the other as 
freely permitting them to enjoy other parts of 
church communion, while they exclude them from 
the sacrament ; so some have learned to tie these 
ends together, and by holding both, set open the 
doors of church and chancel, pluck up the hedge, 
and lay the vineyard common to the wilderness. 
It has somewhat amazed me to hear some whom I 
took for reverend and godly divines, to reproach 
as a sect the sacramentarians and disciplinarians ! 
And when I desired to know who they meant, 
they told me, them who will not give the sacra- 
ment to all the parish, and make distinction by 
their discipline. I thought the tempter had obtain- 
ed a great victory if he had but got one godly pas- 
tor of a church to neglect discipline, as well as if 
he had got him to negtect preaching ; much more 



Chap. 2.] REFORMED PASTOR. 155 

if he had got him to approve of that neglect : 
but it seems he has got some to scorn at the perform- 
ers of the duty which they neglect. As the ungodly 
were wont to reproach the diligent by the name of 
Puritans, so do these reproach the faithful pastors 
by the name of Disciplinarians. I could wish they 
would remember what the ancient reproaches were 
both symptomatically and effectively, and accord- 
ingly judge impartially of themselves, and fear a 
participation of the judgment that befel them, 
Sure I am, if it were well understood how much of 
he pastoral authority and work consists in church 
guidance, it would be also discerned, that to be 
against discipline is tantum non to be against the 
ministry ; and to be against the ministry is tan- 
tum non to be absolutely against the church ; and 
to be against the church is near to being ab- 
solutely against Christ. Blame not the harsh- 
ness of the inference till you can avoid it, and 
free yourselves from the charge of it before the 
Lord. Was not Christ himself the leader of these 
disciplinarians, who instituted discipline, and made 
his ministers the rulers or guides of his church, 
and put the keys of the kingdom into their hands ; 
commanded the very particular acts of discipline, 
and required the people to submit to them, and 
obey them in the Lord ? What would these men 
have said, if they had seen the practice of the an- 
cient church for many hundred years after Christ, 
who exercised a discipline so much more rigorous 



156 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 2. 

than any among us do, and that even in the heat 
of heathen persecutions ; which, if they readonly 
the ancient canons, and Cyprian's epistles, they 
may soon see, though they look no further.* And 
it was not then, no nor after under christian mag- 
istrates, taken to be a useless thing; nor would it 
appear such now, if it were displayed in its strength 
and beauty by a vigorous practice : for it is a 

* " Excommunication in the primitive church was in- 
tended to bring" men to submission; upon which they 
were gradually received as they passed through the 
several courses of penitential discipline assigned them. 

" When a crime was known to have been committed, 
which was thought to deserve a censure, if the party 
camenotof his own accord, he Was convened by the bish- 
op, first in secret ; and if he thereupon submitted and 
reformed, all was well ; otherwise he was admonished, 
and persuaded in the presence of two or three witnesses : 
and if those endeavours also proved ineffectual, the whole 
church was made acquainted with his case, and interest- 
ed in it; and then, if after all he continued obstinate the 
highest sentence of excommunication was finally pro- 
nounced against him, under which he continued as much 
disregarded as a mere heathen, till he was softened into 
submission, and bent to discipline: and when he so sub- 
mitted, there were various degrees of penance assigned 
him, in proportion to his crime. As he was first receiv- 
ed into the church through the door of baptism, so in this 
case he was restored to it through a course of penitential 
discipline; the constituent parts of which were, confess 
sion, segregation^ and absolution* 

" The church was willing to convince her enemies, 
that she did not intend by her mildness to encourage sin ; 



Chap. 2.] REFORMED PASTOR. ] 57 

thing that is not effectually manifested to the ear, 
but to the eye ; and you will never make men 
know well what it is by mere talking of it — till they 
see it, they will be strangers to it. As it is in the 
military art, in navagation, and in the government 
of commonwealths, which are so little known till 
learned by experience. 



that she did not easily admit to ber communion such as 
walked disorderly ; and therefore, that the extraordinary 
contrition of the penitent did not molify the execution of 
Ins sentence ; but he was to continue in some cases three, 
in some nine, and in others above twenty years in a state 
of segregation. — Hence we learn, that when sins were 
committed, which were thought to deserve an eccle- 
siastical censure, the consequence was a separation of 
the delinquent from the rest of the assembly in public 
worship. He had a peculiar station assigned him, and 
was to leave the congregation when the hymns, lessons, 
lectures and prayers for the catechumens were dispatch- 
ed : but before he departed, a solemn prayer was put up 
to God for kim y and for all in his circumstances and sta- 
tion, and also an imposition of the chief minister's hands 
upon him. 

" This indeed, and this alone, seems to have been orig- 
inally the proper station of penitents, and was called 
prostration. They were considered as such, when with- 
in this class ; and the church unquestionably (fan took 
notice of them, as of persons under its care. — Heathens 
might stand without the church door, or just within it, as 
hearers, if they pleased, while the hymns were sung, the 
scriptures read, or the sermon preached by the bishop, 
or any of his presbyters. 





*58 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 2. 

I know that when the church began to be tain- 
ted with vain inventions, the word discipline began 
to have another signification suited to their own 
various rules of life and austere impositions, of 

" Now the excommunicates were, I presume, in this 
respect, upon the same footing with heathens ; and both 
alike might enter the church thus far, whilst they both 
were alike considered. But when the party excommu- 
nicated was softened into submission, he was longer in 
recovering the privileges he had forfeited, then he was at 
first in gaining them; nor could he be re-admitted to 
communion upon such easy terms as those on which he 
was first admitted. Hence the penitent passed through 
more stages, and was longer detained from communion, 
than the catechumen. Ashe had contracted more guilt, 
by abusing his knowledge of the gospel, he was obliged 
to submit to a longer separation, and to pass through 
more degrees of it than even a heathen; and therefore 
while the one was allowed to enter the church as a hear- 
er, the other was for some time detained at the church 
door, and was not permitted to proceed beyond it. 

" Bas\ 7 himself, who lived in the middle of the fourth 
century, hath lineally described to us all the stations of 
penance, which by that time were got into full and cur- 
rent use; since he does not recite them as novel prac- 
tices, but as the established rules of the then prevailing 
discipline. — The case he mentions was of such as had 
offended by incontinence, who for the first year were to 
be excluded entirely from the whole service, and to stand 
weeping at the church door begging the prayers of the 
ministers and people: this was the station of 'mourners. 
In the second year they were admitted to that of hearers ; 
in the third, to that of the prostrate, called by way of 



Chap. 2.] REFORMED PASTOR. 159 

touch not, taste not, handle not ; but it is the an- 
cient and truly christian discipline that I am con- 
tending for. So much for the acts of pastoral 
oversight. 

eminence, the penance ; in the fourth, they were permit- 
ted to stand with the faithful, whilst they communicated, 
but might not partake with them : this I have termed the 
station of consistentes, or by- slanders. Thus at last they 
were restored, in full, to all their privileges, and allowed 
to communicate. — Nut that all these stages were in 
every case necessary to be passed through ; no, but ac- 
cording to the nature and quality of the sin, as it was 
more or le:s enormous, the offender was directed to stand 
from the very first, either among the mourners or hear- 
ers, or among the prostrate ; whereas, sometimes they 
were permitted to skip all these three, and only to stand 
by the faithful, while they communicated, without being 
allowed to join with them. This was the station which 
was next in order to that of full communion. " 

See The Penitential Discipline of the Pr im iti ve Churchy 
By A Presbyter of the Church of England. 

" The way of punishing* by excommunication, was not 
originally instituted by our Lord, or his apostles, but had 
been anciently practised among the Jews. It was vari- 
ously expressed by ancient writers. Such persons were 
said to be separated from the body of Christ, to be icholly 
cut off from communion, to be thrown out 01 the church, 
and to be anathematized. — This separation, and the 
penance that accompanied it was greater or smaller, 
longer or shorter, according to the nature of the crime ; 
sometimes two, three, ten, fif.een, twenty, or thirty 
years, and sometimes for the whole life ; nay, in some 
cases, it was not taken off at death, but persons were 



160 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 2* 

From what has been said, we may see that the 
pastoral office is another kind of thing than those 
men have taken it to be, who think that it con- 
sists in preaching and administering sacraments 
only ; much more than they have taken it for, who 

left to the judgment of God, without any testimony of their 
reconciliation to the church : though herein the severity 
was mitigated, not only by private bishops, but by the 
great Council ofJSTice % which ordained, that penitent per- 
sons should not be denied the communion at the hour of 
death. If the person offending happened to be in orders, 
he forfeited his ministry ; and though on his repentance, 
he was restored to communion, yet it was only as a lay- 
person ; for he never recovered the honour and dignity 
of his office. — Thus Cornelius, bishop of Rome, giving 
Fabius, of Antioch, an account of the clandestine and 
schismatical ordination of Novation, tells him that one of 
the bishops who ordained him returned after to the 
church, bewailing his offence with tears in his eyes, 
whom, at the instance of the people, he received into lay- 
communion. Cyprian, writing about this very case, 
relates of Trophemus, (who was either the bishop men- 
tioned by Cornelius, or one of his colleagues) that re- 
turning to the church with great demonstrations of re- 
pentance, he was re-admitted, but no otherwise than in 
the capacity of a layman. And speaking elsewhere of 
Basilides-s repentance, he tells us, he had no thoughts of 
retailing his bishoprick, declaring he was very well dealt 
with, if, upon his repentance, he might but communicate 
as a laick, and be received among the number of the 
faithful. This, St. Basil tells us, was an ancient canon 
and practice of the church ; and accordingly ordains, 
that a deacon guilty of fornication should be deposed from 



Chap. 2.] REFORMED PASTOR. 161 

think it consists in making new laws or canons to 
bind the church, as if God had not made us laws 
sufficient ; and as if he had committed the proper 
legislative power over his church to ministers or 
bishops, whose office is but to expound, and apply, 
and execute in their places the laws of Christ. 

Lis office ; and being thrust down into the rank of the 
laity, should in that quality be admitted to the commu- 
nion. ? ' See Cavt^s Primitive Christianity. 

It will probably be objected, that they went far into 
the extreme of severity in the exercise of church disci- 
pline. Perhaps in some respects they did ; but do not 
we go as far in many respects into the opposite extreme ? 
And was not theirs the safest of the two ? Did it not man- 
ifest a greater concern for souls, and tend more to pre- 
serve the peace and purity of the church ? — But suppose 
they carried it to an extreme, there is no necessity that 
we should. There is a plain and broad medium. Let us 
follow the scripture rule — go as far as the word of God. 
authorizes as. and we are sure to be safe* 






o °2 



162 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 3* 

CHAP. III. 

Of the manner and concomitants of our work. It must 
be done purely for God — Laboriously and diligently — 
Prudentlj 7 — and orderly — We must insist most on the 
greatest and most necessary things — With plainness 
and evidence — In a sen^e of our insufficiency and 
dependence oji Christ — In humility and condescen- 
sion — With a mixture of severity and mildness — Wilh 
affectionate seriousness — Reverently and spiritually — 
In tender love to our people — Paliently — And with an 
earnest desire of union among ourselves, and of the 
unity and peace of the church. 

HAVING spoken of the matter of our work, 
we are next to speak of the manner ; not of each 
part distinctly, but of the whole in general, espe- 
cially with reference to the principal part. 

1. The ministerial work must be managed pure- 
ly for God and the salvation of the people, and 
not for any private ends of our own. A wrong 
end mars all the work as from us, how good so- 
ever in itself. It is not serving God, but our- 
selves, if we do it not for God, but for ourselves. 
They who set about this as a common work, to 
make a trade of it for their worldly livelihood, 
will find that they have chosen a bad trade, though 
a good employment. Self-denial is of absolute 
necessity in every christian, but of a double ne- 
cessity in a minister, as he has a double sanctifica- 
tion and dedication to God. Without self-denial 



i'hap. 3 % ] REFORMED PASTOR. 1 GS 

he cannot do God an hour's faithful service. 
Hard studies, much knowledge, and excellent 
preaching, are but more glorious and hypocrit- 
ical sinning, if the end be not right. The saying 
of Bernard is commonly known : " There are 
-some who desire to acquire knowledge only for 
this end, that they may know ; and this is base 
curiosity. Others desire to have it that they may 
sell it ; and this is base gain. Others desire to 
have it that they themselves may be known ; and 
this is base vanity. But there are others also who 
desire to have it that they may edify ; and this 
is charity. And there are others who desire it 
that they may be edified ; and this is wisdom." 
2. This work must be managed laboriously and 
diligently, being of such unspeakable consequence 
both to others and ourselves. We are seeking: to 
uphold the world, to save it from the curse of God, 
to perfect the creation, to attain the ends of Christ's 
redemption, to save ourselves and others from 
damnation, to overcome the devil and demolish his 
kingdom, to set up the kingdom of Christ, and 
attain and help others to eternal glory. And are 
these works to be done w T ith a careless mind or a 
■slack hand ? O see then that this work be done 
with all your might ! Study hard, for the well is 
deep, and our brains are shallow. But especially 
be laborious in practice, and in the exercise of 
your knowledge, Let Paul's words ring in your 



164 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 3. 

ears continually : " Necessity is laid upon me, 
and woe unto me if I preach not the gospel I" 
Still think with yourselves what lies upon your 
hands. If I do not bestir me, Satan may pre- 
vail, and the people everlastingly perish, and their 
* blood be required at my hands. By avoiding 
labour and suffering, I shall draw on me a thousand 
times more than I avoid : for, as Bernard says, 
u They who are not engaged in the work of men, 
will surely be engaged in the work of devils ;" 
whereas by present diligence you prepare for fu- 
ture blessedness. For, as Gregory in his morals 
says, " As many labours as you now manifest for 
the truth, so many pledges likewise of recompense 
do you retain with a full expectation. 51 No man 
was ever a roser by God. 

3. This work must be carried on prudently, 
orderly, and by degrees. Milk must go before 
strong meat : the foundation must be laid before 
we build upon it. Children must not be dealt 
with like adults. Men must be brought into a 
state of grace before we can expect from them 
the works of grace. The work of conversion, 
and repentance from dead works, and faith in 
Christ, must be first, frequently, and thoroughly 
taught. The stewards of God's household must 
give to each their portion in due season. We 
must not go beyond the capacities of our people, 
nor teach them perfection who have not learned 



Chap. 3.] REFORMED PASTOR. 165 

the first principles. As Augustine says, " If an 
infant be nourished according to its strength, it will 
be able to take in more as it grows ; but if it ex- 
ceed what it is capable to bear, it will decrease 
rather than increase." And as Gregory Nysen. 
says, " As we teach not infants the deep precepts 
of science, but first letters, and then syllables, so 
also the guides of the church do first propound to 
their hearers certain documents, which are as the 
elements ; and so by degrees open to them the 
more perfect and mysterious matters." There- 
fore did the church take so much pains with their 
catechumens before they baptized them, and would 
not lay unpolished stones into the building. 

4. Through the whole course of our ministry 
we must insist most upon the greatest, most certain, 
and necessary things, and be more seldom and 
sparing upon the rest. If we can but teach 
Christ to our people, we teach them all. Get 
them well to heaven, and they will have knowledge 
enough. The great and commonly-acknowledged 
truths are those that men must live upon, and are 
the great instruments of raising the heart to God, 
and destroying men's sins ; and therefore we must 
still have our people's necessities in our eyes. It 
will make us disregard needless ornaments and 
unprofitable controversies to remember that one 
thing is necessary. Other things are desirable to 
be known ; Jbut these things must be known, or 



16.6 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 3. 

else our people are undone for ever. I confess I 
think necessity should be a great disposer of a min- 
ister's course of study and labour. If we were 
sufficient for every thing, we might fall upon every 
thing, and take in order the whole Encyclopaedia : 
but life is short, <md we are dull ; eternal things 
are necessary, and the souls that depend on our 
teaching are precious. I confess necessity has 
been the conductor of my studies and life : it 
chooses what book I shall read, and tells when 
and how long ; it chooses my text, and makes my 
sermon for matter and manner. Though I know 
the constant expectation of death has been a great 
cause of this, yet I know no reason why the most 
healthy man should not make sure of the neces- 
saries first, considering the uncertainty and short- 
ness of all men's lives. Xenophon thought " there 
was no better teacher than necessity, which teach- 
es all things most diligently." Curtius says, " Ne- 
cessity is more effectual than any art." Who can 
in study, preaching, or life, be doing other mat- 
ters, if he do but know, that this must be done? 
Who can trifle or delay, that feels the spurs of 
hasty necessity ? As the soldier says, " We must 
not stand long disputing ; but immediately and 
courageously fight, when necessity requires it." 
So much more must we, as our business is more 
important. And doubtless this is the best way to 
redeem time, and see that we lose not an hour, 



Cliap. 3.] REFORMED PASTOR. 167 

when we spend it only on necessary things : it is 
also the way to be most profitable to others, though 
not always to be most pleasing and applauded. 
Hence it is that a preacher must be often upon 
the same things, because the matters of necessity 
are few. We must not either feign necessaries, 
nor dwell much upon unnecessaries, to satisfy 
those who are fond of novelties ; though we must 
clothe the same necessaries with a grateful variety 
in the manner of our delivery. The great vol- 
umes, and tedious controversies that so much 
trouble us, and waste our time, are usually made 
up more of opinion than necessary truths. Neces- 
saries are common and obvious ; they are super- 
fluities for which we waste our time' and labour, 
and complain that we atlain them not. Ministers 
therefore must carefully observe the state of their 
flocks, that they may know what is most necessary 
for them, both for matter and for manner : and mat- 
ter is usually first to be regarded, as being of more 
importance than the manner. If you are to 
choose what authors to read yourselves, will you 
not rather take those that tell you w 7 hat you know 
not, and speak needful truth most evidently, though 
it should be in uncouth language ; than those who 
most learnedly and elegantly tell you what is false 
or vain, and, after much ado, say nothing? I pur- 
pose to follow Austin's counsel, " in preferring 
sentiment to words, as the mind is preferred to 



168 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 3. 

the body. Hence it is that I would rather have 
speeches which are true, than those which con- 
tain nice distinctions ; as I would rather have my 
friends wise than handsome." And surely as I do 
in nry studies for my own edification, I should do 
in my teaching for that of other men. It is com- 
monly empty and ignorant men who want the mat- 
ter and substance of true learning, that are over- 
curious and solicitous about words and ornaments, 
when the aged, experienced, and most learned men 
abound in substantial truths delivered in the plain- 
est dress. 

5. All our teaching must be as plain and evident 
as we can make it ; for this best suits a teacher's 
design. He that would be understood must speak 
to the capacity of his hearers, and make it his 
business to make himself understood. Truth 
loves the light, and is most beautiful when most 
naked. It is a sign of an envious enemy to hide 
the truth ; and a sign of an hypocrite to do this 
under pretence of revealing it : and therefore 
painted obscure sermons, like the painted glass 
in the windows that keeps out the light, are too 
often the marks of painted hypocrites. If you 
do not wish to teach men, what business have you 
in the pulpit ? If you do, why do you not speak 
so as to be understood ? I know the height of the 
matter may prevent a man from being understood, 
though he have studied to make it as plain as he 



Chap. 3.] REFORMED PASTOR. 169 

can ; but to cloud the matter in strange words, 
and hide his mind from the people whom he 
pretends to instruct, is the way to make fools ad- 
mire his profound learning, and wise men his folly, 
pride, and hypocrisy. And usually it is a suspi- 
cious sign of some false doctrine that needs such a 
cloak, and must walk thus masked in the open 
day. Thus did the followers of Basilides, and 
Valentinus, and others among the old heretics ; 
and thus do the Behmenists and other Paracelsians 
now, who, when they have spoken in such a way 
that few understand them, lest they expose their 
errors to open view, they pretend a necessity for 
it, because of men's prejudices and the unpre- 
paredness of common understandings for the truth. 
But truth overcomes prejudice by mere light of 
evidence ; and there is no better way to make a 
good cause prevail, than to make it as plain and 
thoroughly known as we can ; and this light most 
effectually disposes unprepared minds for receiv- 
ing the truth. At best it is a sign that he has not 
well digested the matter himself, who is not able 
to deliver it plainly to another. I mean as plainly 
as the nature of the matter will admit, in regard to 
capacities prepared for it by prerequisite truths. 
For I know that some men cannot at present un- 
derstand some truths, though you speak them as 
plainly as words can express them ; as the easiest 
rules in grammar, most plainly taught, cannot be 

p 



170 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 3. 

understood by a child that is but learning his 
alphabet. 

6. Our whole work must be carried on in a 
sense of our insufficiency, and in a pious, believing 
dependence upon Christ. We must go to him for 
light, and life, and strength, who has called us to 
the work : and when we feel our faith weak, and 
our hearts dull, and unsuitable to the great work 
we have to do, we must have recourse to him, and 
«ay, *. Lord, wilt thou send me with such an unbe- 
lieving heart to persuade others to believe ? Must 
I daily and earnestly plead with sinners about ever- 
lasting life and death, and have no more belief and 
feeling of these weighty things myself? O send 
me not naked and unprovided for the work ; but, as 
thou commandest me to do it, furnish me with a 
spirit suitable thereto. 1 As Austin says, "A 
preacher must labour to be heard understandingly, 
willingly, and obediently ; and let him not doubt 
but he will effect this more by pious prayers than 
by the power of oratory ; so that by praying for 
himself and others whom he is about to address, he 
may be a petitioner before he is a teacher : and at 
the very time when he is coming, before he goes out, 
let him raise his voice to God, and lift his soul with 
fervent desire." Prayer must carry on our work 
as well as preaching. He does not preach heartily 
to his people who does not pray for them. If we 
do not prevail with God to give them repentance 



Oiap. 3.] REFORMED PASTOR. 171 

and faith, we are not likely to prevail with them to 
repent and believe. Paul gives us frequently his 
example of praying night and day for his hearers. 
When our own hearts are out of order, and theirs 
too, if we do not prevail with God to mend and help 
them, we are likely to be very unsuccessful in our 
work. 

7. Our work must also be managed with great 
humility. We must carry ourselves meekly and 
condescendingly to all ; and so teach others as to be 
ready to learn of any who can teach us, and there- 
by both teach and learn at once : not proudly vent- 
ing our own conceits, and disdaining all that any 
way contradict them, as if we had attained to the top 
of knowledge, and were destined for the chair, and 
other men only to sit at our feet. Pride is a vice 
that ill becomes them who must lead men in such 
an humble way to heaven. They must also take 
heed, lest when they have brought others thither, 
the gate should prove too strait for themselves. 
For, as Hugo says, " Pride was produced in heav- 
en : but as it had forgot the way by which it fell 
from thence, it can never return thither again. " 
God, who thrust out a proud angel, will not enter- 
tain a proud preacher. Methinks we should re- 
member at least the title of a minister, which, 
though the popish priests disdain, yet we do not. It 
is indeed this pride at the root that feeds all the rest 
of our sins. Hence the envv, the contention, and 



172 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 3. 

unpeaceableness of ministers, and hence the hin~ 
derances in all reformation. All want to lead, and 
few will follow or concur. Yea, hence are the 
schisms and apostasies, as have been former per- 
secutions, arrogant usurpations and impositions. 
And the same may be said of other vices, which 
often revive when they seemed dead, because pride 
was unmortified which virtually contains them all. 
Hfence also the non-proficiency of too many minis- 
ters, because they are too proud to learn. But I may 
say of ministers as Augustine to Jerome, — even 
the aged of them : "Although it is more fit that 
old men should teach than learn, yet it is more fit 
that they should learn than be ignorant." Humili- 
ty would teach them another lesson ; as Hugo says, 
" Willingly learn of all what you are ignorant of, 
because humility will make that common to you 
which nature has made peculiar to every one. 
You will be wiser than all, if you are willing to 
learn from all. They who receive from all be- 
come richer than all." 

8. There must be a prudent mixture of severity 
and mildness both in our preaching and discipline : 
each must be predominant according to the quality 
of the person, or matter that we have in hand. If 
there be no severity, there will be contempt of our 
reproofs. If all severity, we shall be taken as 
usurpers of dominion, rather than persuaders of 
the minds of men to the truth. 



Chap. 3.] REFORMED PASTOR. Iff3 

9. We must be sincerely affectionate, serious 
and zealous, in all our public and private exhorta- 
tions. The weight of our matter condemns cold- 
ness and sleepy dulness. We should see that we 
be w r ell awake ourselves, and our spirits in such a 
state as may make us fit to awaken others. As 
Gregory says, " We should be like the cock, who, 
when he is preparing to crow, first wisely claps his 
wings, and by striking his side renders himself more 
vigilant. So preachers, w 7 hen they are about to 
deliver the word in public, should first employ 
themselves in hoty exercises." If our words be 
not sharpened, and pierce as nails, they will hard- 
ly be felt by stony hearts. To speak coldly and 
slightly of heavenly things, is much the same as to 
say nothing of them. 

10. All our work must be managed reverently, 
as becomes them who are conscious of the pres- 
ence of God, and use not holy things as if they 
were common. The more of God that appears in 
our duties, the more authority will they have with 
men : and reverence is that affection of the soul 
w r hich proceeds from deep apprehensions of God, 
and manifests a mind that is conversant with him. 
To manifest irreverence in the things of God, is 
so far to manifest hypocrisy, and that the heart 
does not agree with the tongue. I know not what 
others may feel ; but the most reverend preacher, 
who speaks as if he saw the face of God, affects 

r 2 



174 REFORMED PASTOR. [CJiap. 3. 

my heart m ore , even with common words , than an ir- 
reverend man with the most exquisite preparations. 
Yea, suppose he bawl it out with ever so much 
seeming earnestness, if reverence be not answer- 
able to fervency, it has but little effect. Of all 
preaching in the world, that speaks not absolute 
falsehood, I hate that preaching which tends to 
make the hearers laugh, or to move their minds 
with levity, and affect them as stage-plays do, in- 
stead of affecting them with a holy reverence of the 
name of God. Jerome, in his epistle to Nepotian, 
says, " When you are teaching in the church, let 
not a shout be excited in the people, but a groan. 
The tears of your hearers will tend to your 
praise." We should, as it were, suppose we saw 
the throne of God, and millions of glorious angels 
attending him, that we might be awed with his 
majesty when we draw near to him in holy things, 
lest we profane them, and take his name in vain. 

To this I annex, that all our work must be done 
spiritually, as men possessed of the Holy Ghost, 
and actuated by him, and men who savour the 
things of the Spirit. There is in some men's 
preaching a spiritual strain, which spiritual hear- 
ers can discern and relish : and in others this sa- 
cred tincture is so evidently wanting, that even 
when they speak of spiritual things, the manner is 
such as if they were common matters. Our evi- 
dence and ornaments also must be spiritual, rather 



Chap. 3.] REFORMED PASTOR. 1*76 

from the holy scripture, with a cautious use of the 
fathers and other writers, than from Aristotle, or 
the authorities of men. The wisdom of the world 
must not be magnified above nor equalled with the 
wisdom of God. Philosophy must be taught to 
stoop and serve, while faith bears the sway : and 
great scholars in Aristotle's school must take heed 
of too much glorying in their master, and des- 
pising those who are below them, lest they them- 
selves prove lower in the school of Christ, and 
least in the kingdom of God, while they would be 
great in the eyes of men. As wise a man as any of 
them would glory in nothing but the cross of Christ, 
and desired to know nothing but him crucified. 
They who are so confident that Aristotle is in hell, 
should not too much take bim for their guide in the 
way to heaven. It is an excellent memorandum 
of Gregory's, " God first collected the unlearned, 
philosophers afterwards ; and he did not teach 
fishermen by orators, but overcame orators by fish- 
ermen." The most learned men should think of 
this. 

Let all writers have their due esteem, but com- 
pare none of them with the word of God. We 
will not refuse their service, but we must abhor 
them as competitors. It is a sign of a distempered 
heart to lose our relish for scripture excellence ; 
for there is a connaturality in a spiritual heart with 
the word of God, because that word is the seed 



176 REFORMED PASTOH. [OlCtp. 3. 

which regenerated it. The word is that seal that 
made all the holy impressions which are in the 
hearts of true believers, and stamped the image of 
God upon them ; and therefore they must needs 
be like that word, and highly esteem it as long as 
they live. Austin tells us, " A certain Platonist 
said that the beginning of the holy gospel by John 
ought to be written in letters of gold, and fixed up 
in the most conspicuous places in all churches.**' 
If he could so value that which suited with his 
Platonism, how should we value the whole which is 
suitable to the christian nature and interest ! God 
is the best teacher of his own nature and will. 

11. The whole course of our ministry must be 
carried on in tender love to our people. We 
must let them see that nothing pleases us but what 
profits them ; and that which does them good does 
us good, and that nothing distresses us more than 
their hurt. We must remember, as Hierom says, 
that bishops are not lords but fathers, and there- 
fore must be affected to their people as their chil- 
dren ; yea, the tenderest love of a mother should 
not surpass their's. We must even " travail in 
birth for them, till Christ be formed in them." 
They should see that we care for no outward 
thing ; no, not money, nor liberty, nor credit, nor 
life, in comparison of their salvation ; but could 
even be content with Moses to have our name wiped 
out of the book of life, i. e. to be removed e tfw- 



Chap. 3.] REFORMED PASTOR. 177 

mero ri-centium, rather than they should perish, 
and not be found in the Lamb's book of life, in nu- 
mero sahandorum. Thus should we, as John says, 
be ready to lay down our lives for the brethren ; 
and with Paul, not to count our lives dear to us, so 
we may but finish our course with joy, in doing the 
work of God for their salvation. When the people 
see that you unfeignedly love them, they will hear 
any thing, arid bear any thing, and follow you the 
more easily. As Austin says, Di'Uge 4' die quic- 
quid voles. We take all things well ourselves from 
one that we know does entirely love us. We will put 
up with a blow that is given us in love, sooner than 
a harsh word that is spoken to us in anger or mal- 
ice. Most men judge of the counsel as they judge 
of the affection of him who gives it, at least so far 
as to give it a fair hearing. O therefore see that 
you feel a tender love to your people in your 
breasts, and let them feel it in your speeches, and 
see it in your dealings. Let them see that you 
spend and are spent for their sakes ; and that all 
you do is for them, and not for any ends of your 
own. To this end the works of charity are necessa- 
ry, as far as your estate will reach ; for bare words 
will hardly convince men that you have any great 
love to them. " Friendship arises from giving and 
receiving." But when you are not able to give, 
shew that you are willing to give if you had it, and 
do that sort of good that you can. But be sure 



17S REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 3. 

that your love prove not carnal, flowing from pride, 
as one that is a suitor for himself rather than for 
Christ, and therefore loves because he is loved, or 
that he may 6e, pretends it. Therefore take heed 
that you do not connive at their sins under pre- 
tence of love, for that were to act contrary to the 
nature and end of love. " If you suffer the vices 
of your friend, you make them your own." Friend- 
ship must be cemented by piety. " First shew 
yourself good, and then seek one like yourself." 
A wicked man can be no true friend ; and if you 
befriend their wickedness, you shew that you are 
such yourselves. Pretend not to love them, if you 
favour their sins, and seek not their salvation. By 
favouring their sin you will shew your enmity to 
God, and then how can you love your brother ? 
" He cannot be a friend to man who is an enemy 
to God." If you be their best friends, help them 
against their worst enemies. Amicus anime custus. 
And think not all sharpness inconsistent with love : 
parents correct their children ; and God himself 
chastens every son that he loves. Melius est cum 
severitale diligere, quam cum lenitate decipere. Be- 
sides this, the nature of love is to excite men to do 
good, and to do it speedily, diligently, and as ex- 
tensively as they can. 

12. Another necessary concomitant of our work 
is patience. We must bear with many abuses and 
injuries from those to whom we are doing good. 



Chap. 3.] REFORMED PASTOR. 179 

When we have studied for them, prayed for them, 
and besought and exhorted them with all conde- 
scension ; when we have spent ourselves for them, 
and given them what we are able, and dealt with 
them as if they had been our children, we must 
expect that many will requite us with hatred and 
contempt, and cast our kindness in our faces with 
disdain, and take us for their enemies, because we 
tell them the truth ; and that the more we love the 
less we shall be beloved. All this must be patient- 
ly endured, and still we must unweariedly hold on 
in doing good ; in meekness instructing those who 
oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give 
them repentance. If they unthankfully scorn and 
reject our teaching, and bid us look to ourselves 
and care not for them, yet still must we hold on. 
We have to deal as with distracted men who will 
fly in the face of their physician, but we must not 
therefore forsake the cure. He is unworthy to be 
a physician who will be driven away from a fran- 
tick patient by foul words. If we tell them that 
natural men savour not the things of the Spirit, and 
are beside themselves in matters of salvation, we 
must measure our expectations accordingly, and 
not look that fools should make us as grateful a re- 
turn as wise men. These are things that all of us 
can say ; but when we come to the practical part 
with sinners who reproach and slander us for our 
love, and are more ready to spit in our faces than 



180 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 3. 

to give us thanks for our advice, what heart-risings 
will there be, and how will the remains of the old 
Adam, pride and passion, struggle against the meek- 
ness and patience of the new man ! And how sadly 
do many ministers come short in this part of their 
trial ! 

Having given you these twelve concomitants of 
our ministerial labour, as singly to be performed 
by every minister, let me conclude with one that 
is necessary to us as we are conjoined and fellow- 
labourers in the work ; and it is this : We must be 
very studious of union and communion among our- 
selves, and of the unity and peace of the churches 
that we oversee. We cannot but be sensible how 
needful this is to tke prosperity of the whole, the 
strengthening of our common cause, the good of 
the particular members of our flock, and the fur- 
ther enlargement of the kingdom of Christ. Min- 
isters must smart when the church is wounded, and 
be so far from being the leaders in divisions, that 
they should take it as a principal part of their work 
to present and heal them. Day and night should 
they bend their studies to find out means to close 
such breaches. They must not only hearken to 
motion 7 for unity, but propound and prosecute 
them. Nor only entertain an offered peace, but 
even follow it when it flies from them. They 
must therefore keep close to the ancient simplicity 
of the christian faith, and the foundation and centre 



OtOp. 3.] REFORMED PASTOR. iSl 

of catholic unity. They must abhor the arrogance 
of those who frame new engines to harrass and tear 
in pieces the church of God, under pretence of 
obviating errors, and maintaining the truth. The 
scripture sufficiency must be maintained, and no- 
thing beyond it imposed on others ; and if papists 
or others call to us for the standard and rule of our 
religion, it is the bible that we must shew them, 
rather than any confession of churches, or writings 
of men. We must learn to distinguish between 
certainties and uncertainties, necessaries and un- 
necessaries, catholic verities and private opinions ; 
and to lay the stress of the church's peace upon the 
former, and not upon the latter. We must there- 
fore understand the doctrine of antiquity, that we 
may know what way men have gone to heaven in 
former ages ; and also know the writings of late* 
divines, that we may partake of the benefit of their 
clearer methods and explications ; but neither of 
them must be made the rule of our faith or charity. 
We must avoid the common confusion of speaking 
for those who do not distinguish between verbal 
and real errors, and hate that rabies quorundam 
theologoruniy who tear their brethren as heretics 
before they understand them. And we must learn 
to see the true state of controversies, and reduce 
them to the very point where the difference lies, 
and not to make them seem greater than they are. 
Instead of quarreling with our brethren, w r e must 



182 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 3* 

combine against the common adversaries. Minis* 
ters must associate, and hold communion, corres- 
pondence, and constant meetings, for those ends ; 
and smaller differences of judgment must not inter- 
rupt them. They must do as much of the work 
of God in unity and concord as they can. It is the 
use of synods not to rule over one another, and 
make laws ; but to avoid misunderstandings; con- 
sult for mutual edification, maintain love and com- 
munion, and go on unanimously in the work which 
God has already commanded us. Had the minis- 
ters of the gospel been men of peace, and of cath- 
olic rather than factious spirits, the church of 
Christ had not been in such a situation as it is now. 
The Lutherans and Calvinists abroad, and the dif- 
fering parties here at home, would not have been 
plotting the subversion of one another, nor have 
remained at such a distance, and in such uncharita- 
ble bitterness, nor strengthened the common ene- 
my, and hindered the building and prosperity of 
the church as they have done. 



Chap. 4.] reformed pasTor. 183 

CHAP. IV. 

The first use for humiliation. Confessrion of the sins of 
The ministry, especially of this nation — Confession of 
cur present sins, particularly pride — Undervaluing the 
unity and peace of the catholic church — Want of seri- 
ous industry, and unreservedly laying out ourselves in 
the work of God — Discovered by negligent studies — 
Dull drowsy preaching — Not helping them who want- 
Neglect of acknowledged duties, viz. church-discipline 
— The pretences refuted which are brought to justify 
it — The power of worldly interests — these manifested 
by temporizing, worldly business, barrenness in works 
of charity — -The whole applied for humiliation. 

Reverend and dear brethren, 

OUR business here this day is to humble our* 
selves before the Lord for our former negligence, 
especially with regard to catechizing and personal- 
ly instructing those committed to our charge, and 
to desire God's assistance in the employment we 
have undertaken for the time to come. Indeed 
we can scarce expect the latter without the former. 
If God will help us in our future duty and amend- 
ment, he will surely humble us first for our past 
sins. He who has not such a sense of his faults as 
unfeignedly to lament them, will hardly have such 
as will move him to reform them. The sorrow of 
repentance may be without a change of heart and 
life, because a passion is easier wrought than true 
conversion ; but the change cannot take place with- 
out some good measure of tbat sorrow. Indeed 



184 REFORMED PASTOR* [Olttp. 4, 

vfe may justly here begin our confessions. It is 
too common for us to expect that from our people^ 
which we do little or nothing in ourselves, What 
pains do we take to humble them, while we our- 
selves are imhumbled ! How hard do we press 
them with our expostulations, convictions, and ag- 
gravations, to bring them to true repentance, when 
our own eyes are dry, and our hearts but little af- 
fected with remorse. We give them an example 
of hard-heartedness, while we are endeavouring 
by our words to molify and melt them. Oh I if 
we did but study half as much to affect and amend 
our own hearts as we do our hearers, it would not 
be with many of us as it is ! We do too little for 
their humiliation ; but I fear many of us do much 
less for our own. Many do somewhat for other 
men's souls, while they seem to forget their own. 
They so carry the matter, as if their part of the 
work lay in calling to repentance, and their hear- 
ers in repenting ; their's in speaking of tears and 
sorrow, and their hearers in weeping and sorrow- 
ing ; their's in preaching duties, aud their hearers 
in performing them ; their's in crying down silt* 
and the people's in forsaking it. 

But the scriptures inform us that the guides of 
the church confessed their own sins as well as the 
sins of the people, and began in tears for their own 
and the people's sins. Ezra confessed the sins of 
the priests as well as of the people., weeping, and 



Chap. 4.] REFORMED PASTOR. 1&3 

casting himself down before the house of God. So 
did the Levites. Daniel confessed his own sin as 
well as the sins of the people. And God calls such 
to it as well as others.* When the fast is summon- 
ed, the people gathered, the congregation sancti- 
fied, the elders assembled, the priests, the minis- 
ters of the Lord, are called to begin the work with 
weeping, calling upon God for mercy. I think if 
we consider well the duties already opened, and 
also how we have performed them ; the rule, and 
how far we have deviated from it ; we need not 
demur upon the question, nor put it to a question* 
whether we have cause for humiliation. I. most 
needs say, though I judge myself in saying it, that 
he who reads but this one exhortation of Paul in 
Acts xx, and compares his life with it, is stupid 
and hard-hearted, if he do net melt under a sense 
of his negligence, be not laid in the dust before 
Cod, and forced to bewail his great omissiong, and 
{o flee for refuge to the blood of Christ, and to his 
pardoning grace. I am confident, brethren, that 
none of you do in judgment approve of the liber-* 
tine doctrine that crieth down the necessity of con- 
fession, contrition, and true humiliation^ in order 
to the pardon of sin. Is it not a pity then that our 
hearts are not more orthodox as well as our heads ? 
But I see our lesson is but half learned when we 

* Ezra ix. 6 — 10. x. 1. Neh. ix. 32—34. Dan, \x\ 
W, Jpelii. 15—17. 

9. 2 



186 REFORMED PASTOR* [Chap, 4* 

know it, and can say it. When the understanding 
has learned it, there is much difficulty to teach it 
our wills and affections; our eyes, our tongues, and 
our hands. It is a sad thing that so many of us 
preach our hearers asleep ; but it is sadder still if 
we have studied and preached ourselves asleep } 
and have talked so long against hardness of heart, 
till our oWn are grown hard under the noise of our 
own reproofs. Though the head only have eyes 3 
ears, smell, and taste ; the heart should have life, 
and feeling, and motion, as well as the head. 

That you may see that there is cause for the 
sorrow which God calls us to, 1 consider it my du- 
ty to call to remembrance our manifold sins, or at 
least those that are most obvious, and set them this 
day in order before God and ourselves, that he 
may cast them behind his back ; and to deal plain- 
ly and faithfully in a free confession, that he who 
is faithful and just may forgive them ; and to judge 
ourselves, that we be not judged of the Lord : 
wherein I suppose I have your free and hearty 
consent, and that you will be so far from being of- 
fended with the disgrace of your persons and of 
others in this office, that you will readily subscribe 
the charge, and be humble self-accusers ,* and so 
far am I from justifying myself by the accusation of 
others, that I do unfeignedly put my name with the 
first in the bill : for how can a wretched sinner of 
such great transgressions presume to justify him- 



Chap. 4 J RLFOJIMED PASTOR, 1ST 

self with God, or how can he plead guiltless whose 
conscience has so much to say against him ! If I 
cast shame upon the ministry, it is not on the office, 
but on our persons, by opening that sin which is 
our shame. The glory of our high employment 
does not communicate any glory to our sin ; nor 
will it afford the smallest covering for its naked- 
ness, for sin is a reproach to any people or per- 
sons : and it is myself, as well as others, on whom 
I must lay the shame. If this may not be done, 
what do we here to-day ? Our business is to take 
shame to ourselves, and to give God the glory ; 
faithfully to open our sins, that he may cover them ; 
and to make ourselves bare by confession, as we 
have done by transgression, that we may have the 
white raiment which covers none but the penitent ; 
for, whether they be pastors or people, it is only 
he " that confesseth and forsaketh his sins that 
shall have mercy, when he that hardeneth his 
heart shall fall into mischief." Prov. xxviii. 13. 

Doubtless, if we are willing to know ourselves, 
we shall find that to confess which will lay us very 
low before the Lord. I shall, in all I have to say, 
keep my eye on my own heart, which I am so far 
from justifying in this common lamentation, that I 
look upon it as my necessary duty to cast the first 
stone at myself. 

I shall not undertake to enumerate the great sins 
of which we are guilty, and therefore my passing 



188 REFORMED PASTOR. [Qiap. 4. 

over any particular is not to be considered as a 
denial of it. But I shall instance a few that cry 
loudly for humiliation and speedy reformation. 
Only I must first premise that, notwithstanding all 
the fauUs that are now among us, I do not believe 
that ever England had so able and faithful a minis- 
try since it was a nation, as it has at this day : and 
I fear that few nations on earth, if any, have the 
like. Sure I am the change is so great within these 
twelve years, that it is one of the greatest joys that 
ever I had in the world to behold it. O how many 
congregations are now plainly and frequently taught 
that lived then in great obscurity 1 How many able, 
faithful men, are there now in a county, in com- 
parison of what were then ! How graciously has 
God prospered the studies of many young men who 
were little children in the beginning of the late 
troubles, so that now they eclipse most of their 
seniors! How many miles would I have gone 
twenty years ago, and less, to have heard one of 
those ancient revered divines, whose congregations 
are now grown thin, and their parts esteemed 
mean, by reason of the notable improvement of 
their juniors. And in particular, how mercifully 
has the Lord dealt with this poor country, (Worces- 
tershire) in raising up so many of those who do 
credit to their sacred office, and self-deny ingly, 
freely, zealously, and unweariedly, lay out them- 
selves for the good of souls ! I bless the Lord 



Chap. 4.] REFORMED PASTOR. 189 

who has placed me in such a neighbourhood, where 
I have the brotherly fellowship of so many able, 
humble, unanimous, peaceable, and faithful men. 
O that the Lord would long continue this admirable 
mercy to this unworthy country ! I hope 1 shall 
rejoice in God while I have a being, for the com- 
mon change in other parts that I have lived to see ; 
that so many hundreds of faithful men are hard at 
work for the saving of souls, frementibus licet el 
frendentibtis inimicls; and that more are springing 
up apace. I know there are some men, whose 
parts I reverence, who, being in point of govern- 
ment of another mind, will be offended at my men- 
tioning this happy change: but I must profess, 
suppose I absolutely embraced episcopacy, if I 
know my heart, I could not for all that but rejoice. 
What, not rejoice at the prosperity of the church, 
because men differ in opinion about its order! 
Should I shut my eyes against the mercies of the 
Lord ! The souls of men are not so contemptible 
to me, that I should envy them the bread of life, 
because it is broken to them by a hand that had not 
episcopal approbation. O that every congregation 
were thus supplied ! But all cannot be done at 
once. It requires much time to get rid of a cor- 
rupted ministry ; and when the ignorant and scan- 
dalous are cast out, we cannot create abilities in 
others, but must wait foV their preparation and 
growth ; and then, if England drive not the gos- 



190 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 4, 

pel away by their abuse, even by their wilful ha- 
tred of the light, they are likely to be the happiest 
nation under heaven. For, with regard to all the 
sects and heresies which are creeping in and daily 
troubling us, I doubt not but the free gospel, man- 
aged by an able, self-denying ministry, will effec- 
tually disperse and shame them all. 

But you may say, this is not confessing sin, but 
applauding those whose sins you pretend to confess, 
I answer, it is the due acknowledgement of God's 
grace, and thanksgiving for his admirable mercies, 
that I may not seem unthankful in confession, 
much less to obscure or vilify his grace, while I 
open the frailties with which in many instances it 
is accompanied. 

1. One of our most heinous and palpable sins is 
pride. A sin this which has too much interest in 
the best, but is more hateful and inexcusable in us 
than in any ; yet it is so prevalent in some of us, 
that it indites our discourses, it chuses our compa- 
ny, it forms our countenances, it puts the accents 
and emphasis upon our words ; when we reason, 
it is the determiner and exciter of our cogitations ; 
it fills some men's minds with aspiring desires and 
designs ; it possesses them with envious and bitter 
thoughts against those who stand in their light, or 
by any means eclipse their glory, or hinder the 
progress of their idolized reputation. O what a 
constant companion, what a tyrannical commander [ 



Chap. 4 S .J REFORMED PASTOR. 191 

what a sly, subtle, and insinuating enemy is pride ! 
It goes with men to the draper, the mercer, and the 
tailor ; itchuses them their cloth, their trimming, 
and their fashion, and dresses them in the morning. 
Fewer ministers w T ould follow the fashion in hair 
and habit, were it not for the influence of this 
imperious vice : and I would that were all ; but, 
alas, how frequently does it go with us to our 
studies, and there sit with us, and do our work I 
How often does it chuse our subject, and our words 
and ornaments ! God bids us be as plain as we can, 
that we may inform the ignorant ; and as convinc- 
ing and serious as w r e can, in order to melt and 
change unchanged hearts : but pride stands by and 
contradicts all. It puts in toys and trifles, and un- 
der pretence of laudable ornaments, dishonours 
our sermons with childish conceits. It takes off 
the edge and life of all our teaching, under pre- 
tence of filing off the roughness and superfluity. If 
we have a plain and cutting passage, it throws it 
away as rustical or ungrateful ; when God charges 
us to deal with men as for their lives, and beseech 
them with all the earnestness we are able, this curs- 
ed sin controuls all, and condemns the holy com- 
mands of God, calls our most necessary duty mad- 
ness, and says toys, 'What, will you make people 
think you are mad ; will you make them say yoti 
rage or rave j cannot you speak soberly and mod- 
erately V Thus does pride make many men's seT* 



132 REFORMED PASTOR. [Clldp. 4, 

nions; and what pride makes, the devil makes ; 
and what sermons the devil will make, and to what 
end, we may easily conjecture. Though the mat- 
ter be of God, yet if the dress, and manner, and 
end be from Satan, we have no great reason to ex- 
pect* success. 

And when pride has made the sermon, it goes 
with them into the pulpit ; it forms their tone, 
animates them in the delivery, takes them off from 
that which may be displeasing, however necessary, 
and sets them in pursuit of vain applause ; and the 
sum of all this is, that it makes men, both in study- 
ing and preaching, seek themselves, and deny God, 
when they should seek God's glory, and deny them- 
selves. When they should ask, ■ What shall I 
say, and how shall I say it, to please God best, 
and do most good ?' It makes them ask, ' What 
shall I say, and how shall I deliver it, to be thought 
a learned and able preacher, and to be applauded 
by all who hear me V When the sermon is over, 
pride goes home with them, and makes them more 
eager to know whether they were applauded, than 
whether they prevailed with any for the saving of 
their souls. They could find in their hearts, but 
for shame, to ask folks how they liked them, and 
to draw out their commendation. If they perceive 
that they are highly thought of, they rejoice as 
having attained their end ; but if they find that they 



■p. I.] REFORMER PASTOR.. Ift3 

are esteemed as weak or common men, they are 
displeased, having missed the prize. 

But even this is not the worst, if worse may be. 
O that ever it should be spoken of godly ministers, 
that they are so set upon popular air, and of sitting 
highest in men's estimation, that they envy the 
parts and names of their brethren who are prefer- 
red before them, as if all were taken from their 
praises that is given to another, and as if God had 
given them his gifts to be the mere ornaments and 
trappings of their persons, that they may walk as 
men of reputation in the world, and all his gifts in 
others were to be trodden down and vilified, if 
they stand in the way of their honour ! What, a 
saint, a preacher for Christ, and yet envy that 
which has the image of Christ, and malign his 
gifts for which he should have the glory ; and all 
because they seem to hinder our glory! Is not 
every true christian a member of the body, and 
therefore a partaker of the blessings of the whole, 
and of each particular member thereof? And 
does not everv man owe thanks to God for his 
brethren's gifts, not only as having himself a part 
in them, as the foot has the benefit of the guidance 
of the eye, but also because his own ends may be 
attained by his brethren's gifts as well as by his 
own? If the glory of God and the church's 
felicity be not his end, he is not a christian. Will 
any workman malign another because he helps 

R 



194 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 4« 

him to do his masters work ? Yet, alas, how 
common is this heinous crime among men of parts 
and eminence in the church ! They can secretly 
blot the reputation of those who stand cross to 
their own ; and what they cannot for shame do in 
plain and open terms, lest they be proved palpable 
liars and slanderers, they will do it in general and 
malicious intimations, raising suspicions where 
they cannot fasten accusations. And so for are 
some gone in this satanical'vice, that it is their 
ordinary practice, and a considerable part of their 
business, to keep down the estimation of any that 
they dislike, and to defame others in the slyest 
arid most plausible way. And some go so far, that 
they are unwilling that any abler than themselves 
should come into their pulpits, lest they be ap- 
plauded above themselves. A fearful thing, that 
any man who has the least fear of God, should so 
envy God's gifts ; and had rather that his carnal 
hearers were unconverted, and the drowsy not 
awakened, than that it should be done by another 
who may be preferred before him. Yea, so far 
does this cursed vice prevail, that in great con- 
gregations, where they have need of the help of 
many teachers, we can scarcely get two in equality 
to live together in love and quietness, and unani- 
mously to carry on the work of God. Unless one 
of them be quite below the other in parts, and 
content to be so esteemed ; or unless one be a 



Chap, l.j RKFORMED PASTOR. 1 9C) 

urate to the other, or ruled by him, they are 
intending tor precedency, envying each others 
interest, and walking with strangeness and jeal- 
ousy towards one another, to the shame of their 
profession, and greatly to the injury of the con- 
gregation. Nay, some men arc so far irone in 
pride, that when they might have an equal assist- 
ant to further the work of God, they prefer taking 
all the burden upon themselves, though more than 
they can bear, to letting any share with them in 
the honour, lest they should diminish their interest 
in the people. 

Hence it also comes to pass that men so magnify 
their own opinions, and are as censorious of any 
who differ from them in lesser things, as if it were 
all one to differ from them and from God ; and ex- 
pect that all should be conformed to their judgment, 
as if they were the rules of the church's faith. 
Thus, while we cry down papal infallibility, and 
determination of controrersies, we would, too 
many of us, be popes ourselves, and have all stand 
to our determination, as if we were infallible. It 
is true, we have more modesty than expressly to 
say so. We pretend that it is only the evidence 
of truth that we expect men should yield to, and 
our zeal is for the truth, and not for ourselves ; 
but as that must needs be taken for truth which is 
oar's, so our reasons must needs be considered 
valid ; anj if thev be frcelv examined and found 



196 reformed pastor. [Chap. 4. 

to be fallacious, as we are exceeding backward 
to see it ourselves, because they arc ours, so we 
are angry that it should be disclosed to others. 
We espouse the cause of our errors, as if all uiai 
were spoken against them were spoken against 
our persons, and we were heinously injured to 
have our arguments fully confuted, by which we 
injured the truth and the minds of men. So that 
the matter is come to this through our pride, that 
if an error or fallacious argument fall under the 
patronage of a reverend name, which is not un- 
common, we must either give it the victory, and 
give away the truth, or else become injurious to 
that name that patronizes it. For though you 
Hieddle not with their persons, yet they put them- 
selves under all the strokes which you give their 
arguments, and feel it as sensibly as if you had 
spoken it of themselves, because they think it 
will follow in the eyes of men, that weak asguing 
is a sign of a weak man. If therefore you take 
it for jour duty to shame their errors and false 
reasonings, by discovering their nakedness, they 
take it as if you shamed their persons ; and so 
their names must be a garrison or fortress to their 
mistakes, and their reverence must defend all their 
sayings from the light. 

And so high are our spirits, that when it becomes 
a duty to any to reprove or contradict us, we are 
commonly impatient both of the matter and of the 



C7w/>.-l.J REFQItMED 1MST0R. 197 

manner. Wc love the man that will say as we sav, 
be of our opinion, and promote our reputation > 
though less worthy of our love in other respects ; 
but he is disagreeable to us who contradicts us, dif- 
fers from us, and deals plainly within us in our mis- 
carriages, telling us of our faults : especially in the 
management of our public arguments, where the 
eye of the world is upon us, we can scarcely en- 
dure any contradiction or plain dealing. 1 know 
that railing language is to be abhorred, and that we 
should be as tender of eacli other's reputation as 
our fidelity to the truth will permit : but our pride 
makes too many of us think all men contemn us 
who do not admire us ; yer, and admire all that we 
say, and submit their judgments to our most palpa- 
ble mistakes. We are so tender, that no man can 
touch us but we are hurt ; and so stout and high- 
minded, that we can scarcely be spoken to. 

I confess 1 have often wondered that this most 
heinous sin should be made so light of, and thought 
consistent with a holy frame of heart and life,- when 
far less sins are, by ourselves, proclaimed to be 
damning in our people ; and I have wondered still 
more to see the difference between ungodly sinners 
and godly preachers in this respect. When we 
speak to drunkards, worldlings, or any ignorant and 
unconverted men, we declare their condition to be 
most deplorable and dangerous, and, as plainly as 
we can speak, tell them of their sin ? shame, am! 

R 2 



198 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 4. 

misery ; and we expect, not only that they should 
bear all patiently, but take all thankfully ; ami we 
have good reason for all this ; yea, most that I deal 
with do take it patiently ; and many gross sinners 
will commend the closeth preachers most, and say 
that they care not for hearing a man who will not 
tell them plainly of their sins. But if we speak to 
godly ministers against their errors, or any sin, sup* 
pose we honour and reverence them, and speak as 
smoothly as we can ; yea, suppose we mix commen- 
dation with our contradiction or reproof, yet if the 
applause be not predominant, so as to drown all the 
force of the reproof or confutation, they take it as 
an injury almost insufferable. That is considered 
as railing against them which would be no better 
than flattery in them to the common people, though 
the cause may be as great. 

Brethren, I know this is a sad and harsh confes- 
sion ; but that all this should be among us, ought to 
be more grievous to us than to be told of it. Could 
this nakedness be hid, I should not have disclosed it, 
at least not so openly in the view of all. But, alas 
it is long ago open to the eyes of the world! We 
have dishonoured ourselves by idolizing our hon- 
our. We print our shame, preach our shame, and 
tell it to all. Some will think that I speak over 
charitably to call such pensons godly men, in whom 
so great a sin prevails. I know where it is indeed 
predominant, and not hated, bewailed and mortified, 



Chap. 4.] WSFORHED PASTOR. 199 

there can be no true godliness ; and I leave every 
man to a cautious jealousy and search of his own 
heart. But if all be graceless who are guilty of 
any, or many, or most of the forernentioned discov- 
eries of pride, the Lord be merciful to the minis- 
ters of this land, and give us quickly another spirit ; 
for grace is a rarer thing than most of us have sup- 
posed it to be. 

Yet I must needs say that it is not all I intend. 
To the praise of grace be it spoken, we have some 
among us here, (and I doubt not but it is so in 
other parts) who are eminent for humility and con- 
descension, and exemplary therein to their flocks 
and to their brethren ; and it is and shall be their 
glory, and makes them truly honourable and amia- 
ble in the eyes of God and all good men, yea and 
in the eyes of the ungodly themselves. O that the 
rest of us w r ere but such ! 

O that the Lord would lay us at his feet in 
tears of unfeigned sorrow for this sin ! Brethren, 
may I take the liberty for a little to expostulate 
this case with my own heart and you, that w r e may 
see the shame of our sin and be reformed ? Is not 
pride the sin of devils, the first-born of hell ? Is it 
not that wherein Satan's image consists ; and is it 
a tolerable evil in men who are so engaged against 
him and his kingdom as we are ? The very de- 
sign of the gospel is self-abasing ; and the work of 
grace is begun and carried on in humiliation. Hu- 



200 reformed pastor. [Chap. 4. 

mility is not a mere ornament of a christian, but 
an essential part of the new creature. It is a con- 
tradiction to be a sanctified man, or a true christian, 
and not humble. All that will be christians must 
be Christ's disciples, and come to him to learn ; 
and their lesson is, to be meek and lowly. O how 
many precepts and admirable examples has our 
Lord and Master given us for this end ! Can we 
once conceive of him as purposely washing and 
wiping his servants' feet^ and still continue stout 
and lordly ? Did he converse with the meanest, 
and shall we avoid them as contemptible people, 
and think none but persons of riches and honour to 
be lit for our society ? How m\ny of us are often- 
er found in the houses of gentlemen, than in the 
poor cottages of those who have most need of our 
help ! There are many of us who would think it 
base to be daily with the most needy and beggarly 
people, to instruct them in the matters of life, and 
to supply their wants, as if we had taken charge 
only of the souls of the rich. Alas, what is it that 
we have to be proud of! Of our bodies ? Are they 
not made of the like materials as the brutes, and 
must they not shortly be as loathsome and abomi- 
nable as the dung ? Is it of our graces ? The 
more we are proud of them, the less we have to be 
proud of; and when so much of the nature of 
grace consists in humility, it is a great absurdity to 
be proud of it. Is it of pur learning, knowledge, 



(7irtp. [.] REFORMED PASTOR. 201 

abilities, and gifts ? Surely if we have any knowl- 
edge at all, w.e must needs know much reason to be 
humble ; and if we know more than others, we 
must know more reason than others to be humble. 
How little is it that the most learned know, in com- 
parison of what they are ignorant of ! And to know- 
that many things are beyond your reach, and that 
you cannot know them, one would think should be 
no great cause of pride. However, do not the 
devils know more than you ; and will you be proud 
of that in which the devils excel you ? Our very 
business is to teach the great lesson of self-denial 
and humility to our people, and how unfit is it then 
that we should be proud ourselves ! We must 
study humility, and preach humility ; and must we 
not also possess and practise it ? A proud teacher 
of humility is at least a self-condemning man. 

It is truly deplorable that so vile a sin is so little 
discerned by us. But many who are very proud 
can blame it in others, and take no notice of it in 
themselves. Even the world observes some among 
us, that they have aspiring minds, and seek for the 
highest rooms, and must be rulers, and bear the 
sway wherever they come, or else there is no 
standing before them. 

Brethren, I desire to deal closely with nvy own 
heart and yours. I beseech you consider whether 
our speaking well of the grace that we are desti- 
tute of, and against the sin that we live in. wiiisave 



202 reformed pastor. [Chap. 4, 

us. Have not many of us cause to inquire once 
and again, whether sincerity can consist with such 
a measure of pride. When we are telling the 
drunkard that he cannot be saved without becom- 
ing temperate, and the fornicator unless he be- 
come chaste ; have we not as great reason, if we 
be proud, to say of ourselves, that we cannot be 
saved unless we become humble ? Certainly pride 
is a greater sin than whoredom or drunkenness ; 
and humility is as necessary as chastity and sobrie- 
ty. Truly, brethren, a man may as certainly, and 
more slily and dangerously make haste to hell in 
a way of profession and earnest preaching of the 
gospel, and seeming zeal for a holy life, as in a way 
of drunkenness and tilthiness. For what is true 
holiness but devotedness to God, andliviagto him ; 
and what is wickedness, and being in a state fit for 
damnation, but a devotedness to ourselves, and 
living to ourselves ; and does any man live more 
to himself or less to God than the proud ; and may 
not pride make a preacher study for himself, and 
pray, and preach, and live for himself, even when 
he seems to outgo others in the work, if he outgo 
them that he may have the glory of it from men ? 
It is not the work, without the principle and end, 
that will prove u3 upright. The work may be 
God's, and yet we do it not for God but for our- 
selves. I confess 1 feel such continual danger, 
Test I should study for myself, preach for myself, 



Chap. !.] REFORMED PASTOR. 2' 

and write for myself, rather than fur Christ,, that 
if I did not watch against it I should soon miscarry. 
Consider, 1 beseech von, brethren, what baits 
there are in the work of the ministry to entice a 
man to be selfish, that is, to be carnal and impious, 
even in the highest works of piety ! The fame of 
a godly man is as great a snare as the fame of a 
learned man ; and woe to him who takes up with 
the fame of godliness instead of godliness ! Verily. 
I say unto you, they have their reward. When 
the times were for learning and empty formalities, 
then the temptation of the proud lay that way : 
but now, through the unspeakable mercy of God, 
the most lively practical preaching is in credit, and 
godliness itself is in credit ; and now the tempta- 
tion to proud men is here, even to pretend to be 
zealous preachers and godly men. what a fine 
thing it seems to have the people crowd to hear us, 
and to be affected with what we sav, and that we 
can command their judgment and affections ! What 
a taking thing it is to be cried up as the mos>t able 
and godly man in the country, and to be famed 
through the land for the highest spiritual excellence. 
Alas, brethren, little grace will serve to make you 
join yourselves with the forwardest of those men 
who have such inducements as these. To have 
the people plead for you as their felicity, call you 
the pillars of the church of God, and their fathers, 
the chariots and horsemen of Israel, and no lower 



2Q4 reformed PASTOR. [Chap, 4« 

language than excellent men, and able divines, and 
to have them depend upon you, and be ruled by 
you ; though this may be no more than their duty, 
yet I must again tell you that little grace will serve 
to make you seem zealous men for this ; nay, 
pride may do it, without any special "grace. O 
therefore be jealous of yourselves, and in all your 
studies be sure to study humility. "He that ex- 
alteth himself shall be brought low, and he that 
humbleth himself shall be exalted.'' I observe 
commonly that almost all men, good and bad, loath 
the proud, and love the humble. So far does 
pride contradict itself, unless where it purposely 
hides itself; and conscious of its own deformity, 
borrows the homely dress of humility : and we 
have cause to be the more jealous, because it is the 
most radicated vice, and as hardly as any extirpa- 
ted from the soul. When it was a disgrace for a 
man to be a godly zealous preacher, then pride 
had not such a bait as now. 

2. Another sin the ministers of England, and 
many other churches, are guilty of, is undervaluing 
the unity and peace of the whole church. Though 
I scarcely ever met with any that will not speak 
for unity and peace, or at least that will expressly 
speak against it ; yet it is not common to meet with 
those who are serious and active in promoting it : 
but too commonly do we find men averse to it, and 
jealous of it, if not themselves the instruments of 



Ckap. 4.] IlEFQJIMED PASTOR. 205 

division. The papists have so long abused the 
name of the catholic church, that in opposition to 
them; many either put it out of their creed, or on- 
ly fill up room with the name, while they under- 
stand not, or consider not the nature of the thing ; 
or else think it enough to believe that there is 
such a body, though they behave not themselves as 
members of it. If the papists will idolize the 
church, shall we therefore deny, disregard, or di- 
vide it ? It is a great and common sin through the 
christian world, to take up religion in a way of 
faction ; and, instead of love and tender concern 
for the universal church, to confine that love and 
respect to a party. Not but that we must prefer 
in our estimation and communion the purer parts, 
and refuse to participate with any in their sins ; 
but the most infirm and diseased part should be 
compassionated and assisted to the utmost of our 
power, and communion held as far as is lawful, 
and no where avoided but upon the urgency of 
necessity. As we must love those in our neigh- 
bourhood who have the plague or leprosy, and af- 
ford them all the relief we can, though we i^ay not 
have local communion with them ; so in other dis- 
eases which are not so infectious, we may be the 
more with them for their help, by how much the 
more they need it. Among the multitudes who 
say tb?y are of the catholic church, it is rare to 
meet with ^ny of a catholic spirit. Men do not 

s 



206 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 4. 

consider and respect ..the whole church, but look 
upon their own party as if it were the whole. If 
there be some called Lutherans, some Calvinists, 
and some among these of subordinate divisions, 
most of them will pray hard for the prosperity of 
their party, and rejoice and give thanks according- 
\y, when it goes well with them ; but if any other 
party suffer, they little regard it, as if it were no 
loss at all to the church. They behave as if they 
were the whole church, and as if it went well with 
the church when it goes well with them. Vv r e cry 
down the pope as antichrist, for including the 
church in the Romish pale, and no doubt but it is 
an abominable schism : but alas, how many of us 
imitate him while we reprove him ! The papists 
foist the word Roman into their creed, and turn 
the Catholic Church into the Roman Catholic 
Church ; as if there were no other catholics, and 
the church were of no larger extent. So it is with 
many others. Some will have it to be the Luthe- 
ran Catholic Church, some the Reformed Catholic 
Church, some the Baptist Catholic Church, and so 
with others : and if they differ not among them- 
selves, they are not much troubled at differing 
from others, though it be from almost all the chris- 
tian world. The peace of their party they take 
for the peace of the church. 

How rare it is to meet with a man who smarts 
and bleeds with the church's wounds, and sensibly 



Chap. I. J reformed pastor. ^07 

lays them to heart as his own ; or who ever was 
s > licit ous about a cure ! No, but almost every 
party thinks that the happiness of the rest consists 
only in turning to them ; and because they are not 
of their min], they cry, c Down with them ;' and 
are glad to hear of their fail, as thinking that is 
the way for the church to rise. How few are 
there who understand the true state of controver- 
sies between the several parties : or who ever 
clear] v discerned how many of them are but ver- 
bal, and how manv are real ! And if those who un- 
derstand the matter, in order to right information 
and accommodation, disclose it to others, it is ta- 
ken as an extenuation of their error, and a carnal 
compliance with them in their sin. Few men grow 
zealous for peace till they are old, have much ex- 
experience of men's spirits and principles, and see 
the true state of the church letter, and the sever- 
al differences, than they did before. Then they 
begin to write their ireneeons, &c. as our Dave- 
nant, Morton, Hall, whose excellent treatise, call- 
ed, The Peace-Maker , and his Paxttrris, deserve 
to be transcribed upon all our hearts. Nay, it 
frequently brings a man under suspicion either of 
favouring some heresv, or abating his zeal, if he 
attempt a pacrac work ; as if there were no zeal 
necessarv for the great fundamental verities of the 
church's unity and peace, but only for parlies, and 
some particular truths, 



203 REFORMED PA3TOH. [CllCLp. 4. 

A great advantage the devil has gained this way, 
by employing his own agents, the unhappy Socini- 
ans, in writing so many treatises for catholic and 
arch-catholic unity and peace, which they did for 
their own ends ; by which means the enemy of 
peace has brought it to pass, that whoever makes 
a motion for peace, is immediately brought under 
suspicion of being one who has need of it for an in- 
dulgence to his own errors, A fearful case this, 
that heresy should be credited, as if none were 
such friends to unity and peace as they who propa- 
gate it ; and that so great and necessary a duty, 
upon which the church's welfare depends, should 
be brought into such suspicion or disgrace. 

Brethren, I speak not all this without good rea- 
son. We have as sad divisions among us in En- 
gland, considering the piety of the persons, and 
the smallness of the matter of our discord, as most 
nations under heaven have known. The most that 
keeps us at odds is the right form and order of 
church-government. Is the distance so great that 
Presbyterian, Episcopal, and Independent, might 
not be well agreed ? Were they but heartily will- 
ing and forward for peace, they might — I know they 
might. I have spoken with some moderate men 
of all the parties, and I perceive by their conces- 
sions it might easily be done. Were men's hearts 
but sensibly affected with the situation of the 
church, and unfeignedly touched with lore to one- 



Chap. I.J REFORMED PASTOR. 209 

another, and did they but heartily set themselves 
to seek it, the settling of a safe and happy peace 
would be an easy work, if we could not in every 
point agree, we might easily find oiitj and narrow T 
our differences, and hold communion upon our 
agreement in the main ; determining of the safest 
way for the managing of our few small differences, 
without danger or trouble to the church. But is 
this much done ? It is not. To the shame of all 
our faces be it spoken. Let each party flatter 
themselves now as they please, it will be recorded 
to the shame of the ministry of England, while the 
gospel shall abide in the christian world. What 
will be recorded ? What ! Why this : That learned 
and godly ministers in England did first disagree 
among themselves, and head and lead on their peo- 
ple in those disagreements ; that they proceeded 
in them for the space of fourteen years, and in all 
that time had as great advantages and opportunities 
for agreement as any people in the world — they 
had the sad experience of the conflagration of the 
commonwealth, and were scourged to it by a ca- 
lamitous war. They saw the fearful confusions in 
the church ; and the perverting of multitudes, as 
Socinians, Ranters, and Infidels ; they saw the 
continual jealousies and bitterness that their dis- 
tance bred, and how it was the fuel of a daily course 
of sin : and yet for all these they used no effectual 
endeavours for a cure. They could let a course 

s 2 



210 REFORMED PASTOR. [Oiap. 4. 

ofsinrun; they could let divisions and heresies 
increase, and see the church of Christ bleed, and 
yet forbear the cheapest cure that ever a people 
could be called to use. They could see, and hear, 
and know, that we were all made a very derision 
to our enemies, and the public scorn or pity of the 
world ; and yet sit still, as if all this were little to 
them. They had magistrates who did not hinder 
them from the work ; but gave them full liberty 
to consult and endeavour a complete agreement. 
They lived near each other, and might easily have 
met together for the work : and if one, or two, or 
a hundred meetings, could not have accomplished 
it, they might have held on till it was done. And 
yet for all this there is nothing done, nor any con- 
siderable attempt yet made towards it. O what 
heinous aggravations accompany this sin ! Never 
since the apostles days, 1 think, did m^n make 
greater profession of godliness. The most of them 
are bound by solemn oaths and covenants to pro- 
mote unity and reformation. They all confess the* 
worth of peace ; and most of them will preach and 
talk for it, while they sit still and neglect it, as if 
it were not worth looking after. They will read 
and preach on those texts that command men to 
follow peace with all men, and as much as in us 
lies, if it be possible, to live peaceably with them ; 
and yet they are so far from following it, and doing 
all they possibly can for it, that too many will snarl 



Chap. 4.] Ri^ORMEB PASTOR. 211 

at it, and malign and censure any who endeavour 
it, as if all zeal for peace proceeded from an abate- 
ment of zeal for holiness ; and as if holiness and 
peace were so fallen out, that there were no re- 
conciling them, notwithstanding they have found by 
long experience, that concord is a sure friend to 
piety, and piety always moves to concord. We 
have seen how errors and heresies are bred by 
discord, as discord is bred and fed by them. We 
have seen, to our sorrow, that where the servants 
of God should live together as one, of one heart, 
one soul, and one lip, and should promote each 
other's faith and holiness, and admonish and assist 
each other against sin, and rejoice together in the 
hope of their future glory, we have contrarily lived 
in mutual jealousies, drowned holy love in bitter 
contention, and have studied to disgrace and under- 
mine one another, and to increase our own parties 
by right or wrong ; and we who were wont to 
boast of our love to the brethren as the certain 
mark of our sincerity in the faith, have now turned 
it into the love of a party only ; and those who 
are against that party have more of our spleen, en« 
vy, and malice, than our love. 

I know this is not so with all ; but yet it is so 
common, that it may cause us to question the sint^ 
cerity of many who are thought by themselves and 
others to be most sincere. And it is not ourselves 
only that are scorched in this flame j but we have 



21.2 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 4. 

drawn our people into it, and cherished them in it ; 
so that most of the godly in the nation are fallen 
into several parties, and have turned much of their 
ancient piety into vain opinions, vain disputes, en- 
vy ings, and animosities ; yea, whereas it was wont 
to be made the certain mark of a graceless wretch 
to deride the godly, how few there are now who 
stick at secretly deriding and slandering those who 
are not of their opinion ? A pioas Episcopalian can 
reverently scorn and slander a Presbyterian ; and 
some of them an Independent, and an Independent 
both : and, which is worst of all, the common ig- 
norant people take notice of all this, and do not 
only deride ug, but are hardened by us against re- 
ligion ; and when we go about to persuade them 
to be religious, they see so many parties, that they 
know not which to join, and think it is as good to 
be of none at all, as of any, when they are uncer- 
tain which is right : and thus thousands contemn 
all religion in consequence of our divisions ; and 
poor carnal wretches begin to think themselves in 
the better case of the two, because they hold to 
their old way, when we hold to nothing. Yea, 
and these pious contenders do more effectually 
plead the devil's cause against one another than 
any of the ignorant people can do. They can prove 
one another deceivers and blasphemers, and what 
not ; and they do this by secret slanders among all 
that they can handsomely vent them to. and per- 



\ 



Gliap. 4.] REFORMED PASTOR. 213 

haps also by public disputations and printed books. 
So that when the obstinate drunkards are at a loss, 
and have nothing to say of their own against a man 
that would drive them from their sin, prompted by 
the railing books or reports of factious malice, they 
say, 6 1 regard him not, nor his doctrine ; such a 
man has proved him a deceiver and a blasphemer ; 
let him answer him if he can.' And thus the lies 
and slanders of some, and the bitter opprobrious 
speeches of others, have more effectually done the 
devil's service, under the name of orthodoxy and 
zeal for truth, than the malignant scorners of god- 
liness could have done it. So that the matter is 
come to that pass, that there are few men of note 
of any party, on wiiom the reproaches of the other 
parties are not so public, that the ignorant and 
wicked rabble who should be converted by them* 
have learned to be orthodox, and to vilify and 
scorn them. Mistake me not. I do not slight or- 
thodoxy, nor jeer at the name ; but disclose the 
pretences of devilish zeal in pious, or seemingly 
pious men. If you be offended with me for my 
harsh language, because I can tell you that I learn- 
ed it of God, I dare be bold therefore to tell you 
further, that you have far more cause to be offend- 
end at your own practices. The thing itself is 
surely odious, if the name be so odious that you 
cannot bear it. How should the presence and 
guilt of it terrify you, if the name make } r ou start? 



214 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 4. 

I know that many of these reverend calumniators 
think they shew that soundness in the faith, and 
love to truth, which others want. But I will re- 
solve the case in the words of the Holy Ghost: 
" Who is a wise man, and endued with knowledge 
among you ? Let him shew out of a good conversa- 
tion his works with meekness of wisdom. But if 
you have hitter envying (or jealousness) and strife 
in your hearts, glory no;, and lie not against the 
truth ; this wisdom descendeth not from above, 
but is earthly, sensual, devilish : for where env}'- 
ing (or bitter zeal) and strife is, there is confusion, 
and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from 
above, is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy 
to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, with- 
out partiality, without hypocrisy ; and the fruit of 
righteousness is sown in peace for them that make 
peace." (James iii.) I pray you read these words 
again and again, and study them. 

3. The next sin which I shall mention, that we 
are lamentably guilty of, is this : We do not so se- 
riously, unreservedly, and industriously, lay out 
ourselves in the work of the Lord, as becomes men 
of our profession and engagements. I bless the 
Lord that there are so many who do this work with 
all their might! But, alas, for the most part, even 
of those whom we consider as godly ministers, how 
reservedly, and how negligently do they go through 
their work 1 How few of us behave ourselves in 



Chap. I.] REFORMED PASTOR. 215 

our office, as men that are wholly devoted thereto, 
and have devoted all thej have to the same end ! 
That you may see the grounds of this confession, 
I shall mention to you some of the sinful discove- 
ries of it, which too much abound. 

(1.) It is too common with us to be negligent in 
our studies. Few men will take that pains which 
is necessary for rightly informing their under- 
standing, and fitting them for their further Work. 
Some men have no delight in their studies, but 
take only now and then an hour, as an unwelcome 
task which they are forced to undergo, and are 
glad when they are from under the yoke. Will nei- 
ther the natural desire of knowing, nor the spiritu- 
al desire of knowing God and divine things, nor the 
consciousness of our great ignorance and weakness, 
nor a sense of the weight of our ministerial work ; 
will none of these keep us closer to our studies, and 
make us more diligent in seeking after the truth ? 
This diligence is now the more necessarv for min- 
isters, because the necessity of the church draws 
many from the universities so young, that the}' are 
obliged to teach and learn at the same time. And, 
for my part, I w r ould not discourage such young 
ones, provided they be but competently qualified, 
and quickened with an earnest desire for men's sal- 
vation, and are drawn out by the present necessi- 
ties sooner than they would go, if the church 
could longer wait for their preparation, and wil 



216 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 4. 

but study hard in the country. For I know that as 
theology is a practical science, so the knowledge of 
it thrives best in a practical course. Laying out 
here is a mean of gathering in ; and a hearty en- 
deavour to communicate and do good is not the 
smallest help to our own proficiency. Many men 
have not been ashamed to confess how young and 
raw they were at their entrance, who yet have 
grown to eminent parts. Vigilius, the martyr, was 
made bishop of Trent at twenty years old. Am- 
brose says, " Men should learn before they begin 
to teach : and whatever proficiency any one may 
have made, there is none but will require to be 
taught as long as he lives." 

O what abundance of things there are that a min- 
ister should understand ; and what a great defect it 
is to be ignorant of them ^ and how much shall we 
miss such knowledge in our work ! Many minis- 
ters study only to compose their sermons, and very 
little more, when there are so many books to be 
read, and so many matters that we should not be 
unacquainted with. Nay, in the study of our ser« 
mons we are too negligent, gathering only a few 
naked heads, and not considering of the most forci- 
ble expressions by which we should set them home 
to men's hearts. We must study how to convince 
and get within men, and how to bring each truth to 
the quick, and not leave all this to our extemporary 
promptitude, unless it be in cases of necessity. 



Chap. 4.] REFORMED TASTG^. 217 

Certainly, brethren, experience will (each you thai 
men are not made learned or wise without hard stu- 
dy, and unwearied labours and experience. 

(2.) If ministers were set upon the work of the 
Lord, it would be done more vigorously than it is. 
How few ministers preach with all their might ; or 
speak about everlasting joy or torment in suc^i a 
manner as may make men believe that they are in 
good earnest. It is enough to make a man's heart 
ache to see a company of dead and drowsy sinners 
sit under a minister, and not have a w T ord that is like- 
ly to quicken or awaken them. To think with our- 
selves, 4 If these sinners were but convinced and 
awakened, they might be converted and live.'' And, 
alas, we speak in such a smooth and careless man- 
ner, that sleepy sinners cannot hear : the blow falls 
so light, that hard-hearted persons cannot feel it! 
Most ministers will not so much as put out then 
voice, and stir themselves up to an earnest utterance. 
But if they do speak loud and earnestly, how few 
answer it with earnestness of matter ; and then the 
voice does but little good : the people will take it 
but as mere bawling, when the matter does not cor- 
respond. It would grieve one to hear what excel- 
lent doctrines some ministers have in hand, and let 
them die in their hands for want of close and lively 
application. What fit matter they have for con- 
vincing sinners, and how little they make of it ; and 
what a deal of good it might do if it were set home, 

T 



218 REFORMED PASTOR* [Chap. 4, 

and yet they cannot or will not do it ! 0, sirs, how 
plainly, how closely, and how earnestly should we 
deliver a message of such vast importance as ours ; 
in which the everlasting life or death of men is con- 
cerned ! Methinks we are no where so wanting as 
in this seriousness. There is nothing more unsuit- 
able to such a business than superficiality and dul- 
ness. What, speak coldly for God, and for men's 
salvation ! Can we believe that our people must be 
converted or condemned, and yet speak in a drowsy 
tone? 

In the name of God, brethren, labour to awaken 
your hearts before you come, and when you are in 
the work, that you may be fit to awaken the hearts 
of sinners ! Remember that they must be awakened 
or damned ; and a sleepy preacher will hardly 
awaken them. If you give the holy things of God 
the highest praises in words, and yet do it coldly, 
you will in the manner unsay what you said in the 
matter. It is a kind of contempt of great things, 
especially things 50 great, to speak of them without 
great affection and fervency : the manner as well as 
the words must set them forth. If we are com- 
manded whatever our hand finds to do, to do it with 
all our might ; then certainly such a work as preach- 
ing for men's salvation should be done with all our 
might. But, alas, how few, how thin are such 
men : here one, and there one, even among good 
ministers, that have an earnest, persuading, work- 



Chap. 4.] REFORMED PASTOR. 219 

ing way ; so that the people can feel him preach 
when they hear him. 

(3.) If we be all heartily devoted to the work 
of God, why do we not compassionate the poor 
unprovided congregations about us, and take care 
to help them to able ministers ; and in the mean 
time step out now and then to their assistance, 
when the business of our own particular charge 
will give us leave. A lecture in the more ignorant 
places^ purposely for the work of conversion, per- 
formed by the most lively working-preachers, 
might be a great help where constant means are 
wanting. 

(4.) The negligent execution of acknowledged 
duties shews that we are not so devoted to the 
work as we should be. If there be any work of 
reformation to be set on foot, how many there are 
who will go no further than they are drawn ; arid 
it were well if all would do so much. 

If any business for the church be on foot, how 
many neglect it for their own private business : 
when we should meet and consult together for the 
unanimous and successful performance of our 
work, one has this business of his own, and anoth- 
er that, which must be preferred before (iod's 
business. 

And when^a work is likely to prove difficult and 
costly, how backward are we to it, make excuses, 
and will not come forward ! For instance : What 



220 REFORMED PASTOR. [CIlCLp.4, 

has been morfe talked of, and prayed for, and con- 
tended about in England for many years past, than 
the business of discipline ? And there are but 
few men who are not zealous in disputing for one 
side or other : some for the Episcopal way, some 
for the Presbyterian, and some for the Congrega- 
tional. And yet when we come to the practice of 
it, for ought I see, we are most of us for no way. 
It has made me wonder sometimes to look on the 
face of England, and see how few congregations 
in the land have any considerable execution of 
discipline ; and to think withal what volumes they 
have written for it, and how almost all the minis- 
ters in the nation are engaged for it — how zealous- 
ly they have contended for it, and made many a 
just exclamation against the opposers of it ; and 
yet for all this do little or nothing in the exercise 
of it. I have marvelled what should make them 
so zealous in siding for that which their practice 
shews that their hearts are against : but 1 see a 
disputing zeal is more natural than a holy, obe- 
dient, and practising zeal. How many ministers 
there are in England who know not their own 
charge, who plead for the truth of their particular 
churches, and know not which they are, or who 
are the members of them ; and who never cast 
out one obstinate sinner ; no, nor have*brought one 
to public confession of repentance, and promise 
of reformation ; nor yet admonished one publicly. 



Efcp. 4.] REFORMED PASTOR. ^21 

to call him to such repentance. But they think 
they do their duty if they do not give them the 
sacrament of the Lord's supper, when perhaps 
they themselves avoid it voluntarily, as well as 
thousands more who keep away without our pro- 
hibiting them ; and in the mean time we leavfc 
them stated members of our churches, grant them 
all other communion with the church, and not call 
them to personal repentance for their sin. Breth- 
ren, I desire not to offend any party, nor to bring 
the least dishonour on them ; but I must say that 
these sins are not to be covered over with ex- 
cuses, extenuations, or denials. We have long 
cried up discipline. Would you have people val- 
ue your mode of government or not ? No doubt 
but you would : and if you would have them value 
it, it must be for some excellence. Shew them 
then that excellence, what it is, and wherein it 
consists ; and if yom would have them believe 
you, shew it them not only on paper, but in prac- 
tice ; not only in words, but in deeds. How can 
the people know the worth of bare notions and 
names of discipline, without the thing ? Is it a 
name and a shadow that you have made all this 
noise about ? How can they think that that is good 
which does no good ? Truly I fear we take not 
the way to maintain our cause, but to betray it, 
while we are only hot disputers for it. 

(5.) Another sad discovery, that we have not 

t % 



222 REFORMED PASTOR. [Clwp. 4, 

so devoted ourselves and all we have to the ser- 
vice of God as we ought, is, the prevalence of 
worldly and selfish interests against the interest and 
work of Christ. And this I shall further manifest 
in these three instances following: — Our tempor- 
izing — Our too much minding worldly things and 
shrinking from duties that clash with our interest 
an that respect — Our barrenness in works of char- 
ity, and in the improvement of all that we have 
to our Master's use. 

[1.] I would not have any to be contentious with 
those who govern them, nor to be disobedient to 
any of their lawful commands. But it is not the least 
reproach upon the ministry, that the most of them 
for worldly advantage still suit themselves with the 
party that is most likely to suit their ends. If they 
look for secular advantages, they suit themselves 
to the secular power ; if for the air of ecclesiastic 
applause, then they suit themselves to the party of 
ecclesiastics that is most in credit. This is not a 
private, but an epidemical malady. In Constantine's 
days how prevalent were the orthodox ! In Con- 
stantius's days they almost all turned Arians ; so that 
there were very few bishops who did not apostatize 
or betray the truth, even of the men who had been 
in the Council of Nice. And when not only Libe- 
rals, but the great Osius himself fell, who had been 
the president, or chief, in so many orthodox coun- 
cils,, what better could be expected from weaker 



Cllifp. lj KEFOftMED PASTOR. %20 

men ! Were it not for secular advantage, or eccle- 
siastical faction and applause, how could it come to 
pass that ministers of all the countries in the world 
are either all, or almost all, of that religion and way 
which is most in credit, and most consistent with 
their worldly interest ? Among the Greeks, they 
are all of the Greek profession ; and among the 
Abassines, the Nestorians, the Maronites, the Ja- 
cobites, the ministers generally go one way ; and 
among the Papists, they are almost all Papists. In 
Saxony, Sweden, Denmark, &c. they are almost all 
Lutherans ; and in Holland* France, and Scotland, 
they are almost all Calvinists. 

It is strange that they should be all in the right in 
one country, and all in the wrong in another, if car- 
nal advantages and reputation did not sway much. 
When men fall upon a conscientious search, the 
variety of intellectual capacities unavoidably causes 
a great variety of conceits about some hard and 
comparatively unimportant things : but let the 
prince and the stream of men in credit go one way^ 
and you shall have the generality of ministers agree 
to a hair, and that without any extraordinary search. 
How generally and often did the common sort of min- 
isters change their religion with the prince in this 
land ! Not all, as our martyrology can witness, but 
the most. I purposely forbear to mention any later 
change. If the rulers of an university, who have 
the disposal of perferments, should be corrupt, how 



224 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 4y 

much might they do with most of the students, 
where mere arguments would not take ! And the 
same tractahle distemper so often follows them into 
the ministry, that it occasions the enemies to say 
that reputation and perferment are our religion and 
our reward. 

[2.] How common is it for ministers to drown 
themselves in worldly business ! Too many are such 
as the sectaries would have them be, who tell us 
that we should go to plough and cart, and labour for 
our living, and preach without so much study : and 
this is a lesson easily learned. Men take no pains 
to cast off and prevent worldly care, that their 
souls and the church may have their care. How 
commonly are those duties neglected that are likely, 
if performed, to diminish our estates! For exam- 
ple : Are there not many who dare not, and will 
not set up the exercise of any discipline in their 
churches ; not only on the forementioned accounts, 
but especially because it may hinder the people 
from paying them their dues 1 They will not of- 
fend sinners with discipline, lest they offend them 
in their estates. I find money is too strong an argu- 
ment for some men to answer, who can proclaim 
the love of it to be the root of all evil, and can 
make large orations on the danger of covetousness. 
— I will now say no more to these but this : If it 
were so deadly a sin in Simon Magus to offer to buy 
the gift of God with money, what is it to sell his 



I . i.j REFORMED PASTOR. %2B 

gifts, his cause, aiul the souls of men, for money : 
and what reason have such to fear lest their money 
perish with them ! 

[3.] But the most that 1 have to say is to the 
third discovery. — If worldly and selfish interests di<l 
not prevail against the interest of Christ and the 
church, surely most ministers would be more fruit- 
ful in good works, and more ready to lay out what 
they have for their Master's use. Experience has 
fully proved that works of charity most potently 
Remove prejudice, and open the ears to words of 
piety. If men see that you are accustomed to do 
good, they will the more easily believe that you are 
good, and therefore that that is good to which you 
persuade them. When they see that you love 
them, and seek their good, they will the more 
readily trust you ; and when they see that you seek 
not the things of the world, they will the less sus- 
pect your intentions, and the more easily be drawn 
by you to seek that which you seek. O how much 
good might ministers do, if they set themselves 
wholly to do good, and would dedicate all their fa- 
culties and substance to that end ! Say not that it is 
a small matter to do eood to men's bodies and that 
this will but win them to us, and not to God, nor 
convert the soul ; for prejudice is a great hind- 
rance to men's conversion, and this will remove it. 
We mieht do men mere good, if they were but wii- 



226 reformed pastor. [Chap. 4. 

ling to learn of us ; and this will make them willing, 
and then our further diligence may profit them. 

Brethren, I pray you do not think that it is ordi- 
nary charity that is expected from you, any more 
than ordinary piety. You must, in proportion to 
your talents, go much beyond others. It is not to 
give now and then two pence to a poor man : others 
do that as well as you. But what singular thing do 
you with your estates for your Master's use ? I 
know you cannot give away that which you have 
not : but I think all that you have should be for 
God. I know the great objection is, ' We have 
wife and children to provide for : a little will not 
serve them at present, and we are not bound to 
leave them beggars.' To which I answer — First ; 
There are few texts of scripture more abused than 
that of the apostle : "He that provideth not for his 
own, and specially those of his family, hath denied 
the faith, and is worse than an infidel." This is 
made a pretence for gathering up portions, and 
providing a full estate for posterity, when the apos- 
tle speaks only against those who cast their poor 
kindred and family on the church, to be maintained 
out of the common stock, though they were able to 
do it themselves. As if one who has a widow in his 
house, who is his mother or daughter, and would 
have her to be kept on the parish, when he has 
enough himself. His following words shew that 
it is present provision, and not future portions, 



CJlitJ). 4.] RFJFORMED PASTOR. 227 

that the apostle speaks of, when he bids " them 
that have widows administer to them/' or give them 
what is sufficient. — Secondly : 1 ou may so educate 
your children, as other persons do, that they may 
he able to get their own livings, in some honest 
trade or employment, without great provision laid 
up for them. I know that your charity and care 
must be^in at home, but it must not end there. You 
are bound to do the best you can to educate your 
children, so that they may be most serviceable to 
God; but not to leave them rich, nor to forbear 
other necessary works of charity merely for a lar- 
ger provision for them. There must be some pro- 
portion kept between our provision for our fami- 
lies and for the church and poor. A truly charita- 
ble, self-denying man, who has devoted himself and 
all that he has to God, would be the best judge of 
the due proportions, and would see which way of 
expence is likely to do God the greatest service, 
and that way he would take. — Thirdly : I confess 
I would not have men lie under endangering strong 
temptations to incontinence, lest they wound them- 
selves and their profession by their falls : but yet 
methinks it is hard that men can do no more to 
mortify the concupiscence of the flesh, that they 
may live single, and have none of these temptations 
from wife and children, to hinder them from fur- 
thering their ministerial ends by charitable works. 
If he who majries not does better than he who does, 



223 reformed pastor. [Chap, 4. 

surely ministers should labour to do that which is 
best ; and if he who can receive this saying must 
receive it, we should endeavour after it. — Fourth- 
ly : But they who must marry, should take such as 
can maintain themselves and their children, or 
maintain them at such a rate as their temporal 
means will afford, and devote as much of the church 
means to the church's service as they can. 

1 would put no man upon extremes : but in this 
case flesh and blood make even good men so partial 
that they take their duties, and duties of very 
great worth and weight, to be extremes. If 
worldly vanities did not blind us, we might see 
when a public, or other greater good, calls us to 
deny ourselves and our families. Why should we 
not live more sparingly and poor in the world, rath- 
er than leave those works undone which may be of 
greater use than our plentiful provision ? But, in 
matters of dutv, we consult with flesh and blood ; 
and we may easily know what counsel it will give 
us. It tells us we must have a competency; and 
many pious men's competency is but little below 
the rich man's rates. If they be not clothed with 
the best, and fare not deliciously every day, they 
have not a competency. A man who preaches an 
immortal crown of glory, must not seek much after 
transitory vanity ; and he who preaches the con- 
tempt of riches, must himself contemn them, and 
show it by his life ; and he who preaches self- 



Chop. I.] REFORMED PASTOR. £2$ 

denial and mortification, must practise these in the 
eyes of those to v. horn he preaches, if he would 
have his doctrine prosper. All christians are sanc- 
tified, and therefore themselves and all that they 
have are consecrated and dedicated to their mas- 
ter's use ; but ministers are doubly sanctified — they 
are devoted to God both as christians and as minis- 
ters, and therefore they arc doubly obliged to hon- 
our him with what they have. 

O, brethren, what abundance of good works are 
before us, and how few of them do we put our 
hands to ! I know the world expects more from us 
than we have : but if we cannot answer the expec- 
tations of the unreasonable, let us do what we can 
to answer the expectations of God, conscience, 
jzsd all just men. It is the will of God that with 
well doing we should put to silence the ignorance of 
foolish men. Especially those ministers who have 
large incomes must do good in proportion. 

I will give but one instance at this time which I 
mentioned before. There are some ministers who 
have 150, or 200, or £300 per annum, of church 
means ; and have so great parishes, that they are 
not able to do a quarter of the ministerial work, nor 
once in a year to deal personally with half their 
people for their instruction ; and yet they will 
content themselves with public preaching, as if that 
were all that were necessary, and leave almost all 
the rest undone, to the everlasting danger or damna- 

u 



230 REFORMED PASTOR. [Ch(tp< 4 

tion of multitudes, rather than maintain one or two 
diligent men to assist them. Or if they have an as- 
sistant, it is but some young man to ease them about 
baptizings or burials, or such work, and not one that 
will faithfully and diligently watch over the flock, 
and afford them that personal instruction which is so 
necessary. If this be not serving ourselves of God, 
and not serving God, and selling men's souls for our 
fuller maintenance in the w r orld, what is ? Me- 
thinks such men should fear, lest while they are 
accounted excellent preachers and godly ministers 
by men, they should be accounted cruel soul mur- 
derers by Christ ; and lest the cries of those souls 
whom they have betrayed to damnation should ring 
in their ears for ever. Will preaching a good ser- 
mon serve the turn, while you never look more af- 
ter them, but deny them that closer help that you 
find to be necessary ; and alienate that maintenance 
to your own flesh which should provide relief for 
so many souls? How can you open your mouths 
against oppressors, when you yourselves are such 
great oppressors, not only of men's bodies but their 
souls ? How can you preach against unmercifulness, 
while you are so unmerciful ? And how can you 
talk against unfaithful ministers, while you are so 
unfaithful yourselves ? The sin is not therefore 
small because it is unobserved, and not become 
odious in the eyes of men ; nor because the 
charity which you withhold is such as the people 
blame you not for withholding. Satan himself, 



Out p. 4.] reformed tastor. 23 1 

their greatest enemy, has their consent all along 
in tiie work of their perdition. It is no extenua- 
tion therefore of your sin that' you have their 
consent ; for that you may sooner have for their 
hurt than for their good. 

I shall proceed no further in these confessions 

and discoveries, but beseech you to take what is 

said into consideration -J and see whether this be 

not the great and lamentable sin of the ministers 

of the gospel, that they are not fully devoted to God f 

and give not up themselves and all that they have 

to the carrying on of the blessed work which they 

have undertaken : and whether flesh-pleasing and 

self-seeking interests, distinct from that of Christ, 

do not make us neglect much of our duty, and 

walk unfaithfully in so great a trust, and reserved^ 

ly serve God in the cheapest and most applauded 

part of his work, and withdraw from that w r hich 

would put us upon cost and sufferings : and whether 

this do not shew that too many are earthly who 

seem to be heavenly, mind the things below while 

they preach for the things above, and idolize the 

world while they call men to contemn it. And as 

Salvian says, Nullas salutemplus negligii quam qui 

Deo aliquid anteponit. Despisers of God will prove 

despisers of their own salvation. 

And now, brethren, what remains but that we 
all cry guilty of these sins, and humble our souls 
in the lamentation of them before the Lord ! Is 



232 reformed pastor. [Chap. 4. 

this taking heed to ourselves and to all the flock ? 
Is this like the pattern that is given as in the text J, 
If we should now prove stout-hearted and unhum- 
hled men, and disregard these confessions as tend- 
ing to our disgrace, how 'sad a symptom would it 
be to ourselves and to the church ! The ministry 
has been often threatened here, and is still malign- 
ed by many sorts of adversaries ; though all this 
shews their impious malice, yet it also intimates 
to us God's just indignation. Believe it, brethren, 
the ministers of England are not the least nor last 
in the sin of the land. They have encouraged 
the common profaneness ; they have led the peo- 
ple into divisions, and are now backward to bring 
them out ; and as sin has been found in them, so 
judgments have been found and -laid upon them* 
It is time therefore for us to take our part of that 
humiliation to which we have been so long calling 
our people. We cannot but perceive that God 
has been offended with us, and that the voice which 
called this nation to repentance spoke to us as well 
as others. He therefore who has ears let him 
hear the voice of railing enemies of all sorts ; the 
voice of those who cry, 'Down with them to the 
ground ;' all calling us to try our ways, and to re- 
form. He who has eyes to see, let him see the 
precepts of repentance written in so many admira- 
ble deliverances and preservations, and in so many 
lines of blood. Bv fire and sword has God been 



Chap. 4.] REFORMED PASTOR. 233 

calling us to humiliation ; and as judgment has be- 
gun at the house of God, so, if humiliation begin 
not there too, it will be a sad prognostic to us and 
to the land. What, shall we deny, excuse, or ex- 
tenuate our sins, while we call our people to such 
free confessions ? Is it not better to give glory to 
God by a full and humble confession, than in ten- 
derness for our own glory to seek fig leaves to 
cover our nakedness, and as it were to oblige God 
to build his glory, which we denied him, upon the 
ruins of our own, which we preferred before him ; 
and to distrain for that, by yet sorer judgments, 
which we denied voluntarily to surrender to him! 
Alas, if you put God to get his honour as he can, 
he can get it to your great sorrow and dishonour. 
If any of our hearers, in a day of humiliation, 
when sin is fully confessed and lamented, should 
be offended at the confession, and stand up against 
it, and say, ' You wrong me : I am not so bad. — ■ 
You should have told me of this in private, and not 
have disgraced me before the congregation.'™ 
What could we think of such a man but that he was 
an impenitent wretch ; and as he would have no 
part in the confession, so he should have none in 
the remission. And shall we do that which we 
scarcely ever see the most hardened sinner do? 
Shall we say, this should not have been spoken of 
us in the ears of the people, but we should have 

v 2 



234 REFORMED PASTOR. [Clldp. 4. 

been honoured before them. — Certainly sins open- 
ly committed are more dishonourable to us when 
we hide them than when we confess them. It is 
the sin, and not the confession, that is our dishon- 
our. We have committed them before the sun> 
so that they cannot be hid. Attempts to cloak 
them only increase the guilt and shame. There 
is no way to repair the breaches. w T hich our sira 
has made, but by free confession and humiliation, 
I durst not but make confession of my own ; and if 
any be offended that I have confessed their's, let 
them know that I do but what I have done by my- 
self. And if they dare disown the confession of 
their sin, let them do it at their peril. But as 
for the truly humble ministers of the gospel, I 
doubt not but they will rather be provoked more 
solemnly, in the face of their several congrega- 
tions, to lament their sins, and promise reforma- 
tion. 



Chap. 5.] REFORMED PASTOR. 235 

CHAP. V. 

Use of exhortation— Motives in the text— From our of- 
fice and relation to all the flock — From the efficient 
cause, the Holy Ghos,t — From the dignity of the object — 
From the price paid for the church — A more particular 
exhortation — To see that the work of grace be advan- 
cing in our own hearts — A word to tutors and school- 
masters — Keep grace active and vigorous, and preach 
to our own hearts first — Stir up ourselves in the work, 
and do it with all our might — Keep up ean>est desires 
and expectation of success — Be zealous of good works 
— Spare no cost — Maintain communion — The way 
thereto — Practise so much discipline as is certainly your 
duty — Faithfully discharge the duties of catechizing and 
instructing all the flock. 

Having disclosed and lamented our negligence 
tmd miscarriages, our duty lies plain before us. 
Ood forbid that we should now go on in the sin that 
we have confessed as carelesslv as we did before ! 

Be awakened, therefore, I beseech you, breth- 
ren, by the loud and manifold voice of God, to en- 
gage more seriously in his work, to do it for the fu- 
ture with all your might, and to take heed to your-' 
selves and to all the flock. The reasons why you 
should take heed to yourselves, I gave you in the 
beginning. The reasons why you should take heed 
to all the flock, I shall give you now, as motives to 
enforce this exhortation ; and the Lord grant that 
they may work with us according to their truth and 
weight. 



236 REFORMED pastor. [Chap. 5. 

I. The first quickening consideration which the 
text here affords us, is taken from our relation to 
all the flock. We are overseers thereof. In this I 
shall further shew you these subordinate parties 
lars, which will manifest the force of this consider- 
ation. 

1 • The nature of the office requires us to take 
heed. What else are we overseers for ! Virgil 
says, " An overseer is a name which implies more 
of a burden than of honour." To be a bishop, or 
pastor, is not to be set up as an idol for the people 
to bow to, nor yet to live at our ease in fleshly de- 
light ; but it is to be the guides of sinners to salva- 
tion. The particulars of our duty we have touch- 
ed before, and shall do more by and by. It is a sad 
case that men should be of a calling of which they 
know not the nature, and undertake they know not 
what. Do these men know and consider what they 
have undertaken, who live at ease and pleasure, and 
have time to take their superfluous recreations, and 
to spend an hour or more at once in loitering and 
vain discourses, when so much work lies upon their 
hands ! Brethren, do you consider where you stand, 
and what you have taken upon you ? You have 
undertaken the conduct, under Christ, of a band of 
his soldiers, against principalities, and powers, and 
spiritual wickedness in high places. You must lead 
them on to the sharpest conflicts ; you must acquaint 
them with the enemy's stratagems and assaults ; yau 



Chap, 5.] REFORMED PASTOR. 237 

must watch yourselves, and keep them watching. 
If you miscarry, they and you may perish. You 
have a sublle enemy, and therefore must be wise ; 
you have a vigilant enemv, and therefore must be 
vigilant ; a malicious, violent, and unwearied en- 
emy, and therefore you must be resolute, courag- 
eous, and unwearied. You are in a crowd of en- 
emies, compassed with them on every side, and if 
you heed one, and not all, you will quickly fell; 
And O what a world of work have you to do ! Had 
you but one ignorant old man or woman to teach t 
though willing to learn, what a tedious task were it : 
but if they be as unwilling as ignorant, how much 
more difficult ! But to have such a multitude of 
these as most of us have, what work will it find us ! 
Who that ever tried it does not know by experi- 
ence ? What a pitiful life it is to reason with men 
who have almost lost the use of reason, and to talk 
with obstinate, wilful people, who know what they 
will do, but not why they do it ; and to argue the 
case with them who neither understand themselves 
nor you, and yet think that no man has understand- 
ing who contradicts them ; and who are confident 
they are in the right, when they can shew noth- 
ing but that confidence to make them so. 

O, brethren, what a world of wickedness have- 
we to contend against even in one soul, and what 
a number of those worlds ! How deeply rooted 
are their sins I YV ith what disadvantage must 



233 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 5, 

truth come to their ears I How strange are they| 
to the heavenly message that we bring them ; and 
know not what you say when you speak in the 
only language that they understand ! And when 
you think you have done something, you leave 
your seed among the fowls of the air ; wicked 
men are at their elbows to rise up and contradict 
all that you have said. They will cavil and slan- 
der you, that they may disgrace your message, 
draw them away from Christ, and quickly extin- 
guish the good beginnings which you hoped you 
had seen. You speak but once to a sinner, for ten 
or twenty times that the messengers of Satan speak 
to him. Moreover, how easily do the cares and 
business of the world devour and choak the seed 
which you have sown ! And if it had no enemy 
but what is in themselves, how easily will a carnal 
heart extinguish those sparks which you have been 
long in kindling ; and for want of fuel and fur- 
ther help, they will go out of themselves. A- 
mong what abundance of evil tempers and pas- 
sions do you cast your gracious words, and what 
entertainment such companions will afford them 
you may easily conjecture. When you think your 
work happily succeeds, having seen men under 
trouble, confessing their sins, promising reforma- 
tion, and living as new creatures and zealous con- 
verts ; alas, after all this, they may prove un- 
sound and false at the heart, and such as were but 



Chap. [).] REFGttMED FASTOR. 239 

-superficially changed, and took up new opinions, 
and new company, without a new heart. How 
many, being deceived by the cares, profits, and 
honours of the world, fall away while they think 
they stand! How many are entangled again in 
their former sensuality ; and how many do but 
change a disgraceful way of flesh-pleasing for a 
way that is less dishonourable, and makes not so 
great a noise in their consciences I How many 
grow proud before they reach to a settled knowl- 
edge, and greedily snatch at every error that is 
presented to them under the name of truth ; and 
in confidence of the strength of their unfurnish- 
ed intellects, despise those of whom they were 
wont to learn, and become the greatest grief to 
their teachers, who before rejoiced in their hope- 
ful beginnings I 

O, brethren., what a field of work is there be- 
fore us I Not a person you can see but may find 
you work. In the saints themselves — how soon 
do their graces languish if you neglect them ; and 
how easily are thev drawn into crooked and for- 
bidden paths, to the dishonour of the gospel, and 
their own loss and sorrow ! — If this be the work 
of a minister, you may see what a life he has to 
lead. Up then, and let us be doing with all our 
might. Difficulties must quicken, and not dis- 
courage, in a possible and necessary work. If 
we cannot do all, let us do what we can 5 for if 



■240 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 5. 

we neglect it woe to us and them ! Should we 
pass over all these needful things, and by a plau- 
sible sermon only think to prove ourselves faithful 
ministers, and to put off God and man with such a 
shell and visor, our reward will prove as super- 
ficial as our work. 

2. Consider also that it is by your own voluntary 
undertaking and engagement, that all this work is 
laid upon you. No man forced you to be over- 
seers of the church ; and does not common hon- 
esty bind you to be true to your trust ? 

3. Consider also that you have the honour to 
encourage you to the labour ; and a great honour 
indeed it is to be the embassadors of God, and the 
instruments of men's conversion and salvation ; 
<; to save men's souls from death, and cover a 
multitude of sins." Indeed the honour is the 
attendant of the work. To do therefore as the 
prelates of the church have often done, to strive 
for precedency, and fill the world with contention 
about the dignity and superiority of their seats, 
shews that they forget the nature and work of 
that office about which they strive. I seldom see 
men strive who shall go first to a poor man's cot- 
tage to teach him and his family the way to heaven, 
or who shall first endeavour the conversion of 
a sinner, or first become the servant of all. 
Strange, that for all the plain expressions of 
Christ, men will not understand the nature of 



Chap. &] REFORMED PASTER. 241 

their office ! If they did, would they strive who 
would be the pastor of a whole county, and more, 
when there are ten thousand poor sinners in it 
who cry for help, and they are not so eager to 
engage for their relief; nay, when they can pa- 
tiently live in the houses with riotous profane 
persons, and not follow them seriously and inces- 
santly for their change ? They would have the 
name and honour of the work of a county, who 
are not able to do all the work of a parish, when 
the honour is but the appendix of the work. Is 
it names and honour, or the work and end, that 
these desire ? O, if they would faithfully, hum- 
bly, and self-denyingly lay out themselves for 
Christ and his church, and never think of titles 
and reputations, they should then have honour 
whether they would or not : but by gaping after 
it they lose it. For this is the case of virtue's 
shadow : " I fly from that which follows me, and 
what flies from me I pursue." 

4. Consider also you have many other excellent 
privileges belonging to the ministerial office to 
encourage you to the work. If you will not there- 
fore do the work, you have nothing to do with the 
privileges. It is something that you are main- 
tained by other men's labours, and live on the 
commonwealth's allowance. Tkis is for your 
work, that you may not be taken off it ; but, as 
Paul requires, may wholly give yourselves to 

x 






42 REFORMED pastqb. [Chap. 5, 



these things, and not be forced to neglect men's 
souls while yon are providing for your own bo- 
dies. Either do the work then, or take not the 
maintenance. 

But you have far greater privileges yet than 
this. Is it nothing to be bred up to learning, when 
others are bred at the plough and cart ; and to be 
furnished with so much delightful knowledge, 
when the world lies in ignorance ? Is it nothing to 
converse with learned men, and talk of high and 
glorious things^ when others must converse with 
almost none but the ignoiant ? 

What an excellent life it is to live in studying and 
preaching Christ ; to be still searching into his 
mysteries, or feeding on them ; to be daily in the 
consideration of the blessed nature, works, or ways 
of God ! Others are glad of the leisure of the Lord's 
day, and now and then an hour besides, when they 
can lay hold of it ; but we may keep a continual 
sabbath. We may do nothing else almost but study 
and talk of God and glory, and call upon him, and 
drink in his sacred, saving truths. Our employ- 
ment is all high and spiritual. Whether we be 
alone, or with others, our business is for another 
world. O, were our hearts but thoroughly suited 
to this work, what a blessed, joyful life should we 
live ! How sweet would our study be to us ; how 
pleasant the pulpit ; and what delight would our 
conference of these things afford! To live among 



OtCip. 5.] REFORMED PASTOR. 243 

such excellent helps as our libraries afford, and 
have so many silent wise companions whenever we 
please, and cf such variety — all these, and more 
such privileges of the ministry, demand our un- 
wearied diligence in the work. 

5. You are related to Christ as well as to the 
flock ; and he bein^ also related to vou, you are 
not only advanced, but secured by the relation, tf 
you be but faithful in the work that he requires. 
You are the stewards of his mysteries and rulers of 
his household ; and he who entrusted you will main- 
tain you in his work. But then, " it is required of 
a steward that a man be found faithful." Be true 
to him and never doubt but he will be true to you. 
Do you feed his flock, and he will sooner feed you 
as he did Elias than forsake you. If you be in pri- 
son he will open the doors ; but then you must re- 
lieve imprisoned souls. He will give you a tongue 
and wisdom that no enemy shall resist ; but then 
you must use it faithfully for him. If you will put 
forth your hand to relieve the distressed, and wil- 
lingly put it to his plough, he will wither the hand 
that is stretched out against you. The ministers of 
England, I am sure, know this by large experience. 
Many a time has God rescued them from the jaws 
of the devourer. the admirable preservations 
and deliverances that they have had from cruel pa- 
pists, from tyrannical persecutors^ and misguided, 
..passionate men ! 



244 REFORMED PASTOR. [Qldp. 5. 

Brethren, in the fear of God, consider why it is 
that &od has done all this ! Is it for your persons* 
or for his church ? What are you to him more than 
other men, but foi* his work and people's sake ! 
Are you angels, or men ? Is your flesh of any bet- 
ter mettle than your neighbour's ? Are you not of 
the same generation of sinners, and need his grace 
$s much as they ? Up then and work as the re- 
deemed of the Lord, as those who are purposely 
rescued from ruin for his service. O do not pre- 
parer remediless overthrow for the English minis- 
try, by your ingratitude, after all these deliveran- 
ces ! If you believe that God has rescued you 
for himself; live to him then, as being unreserved- 
Iy his who has delivered you. 

II. The second motive in the text is, the efficient 
cause. It is God, by his Spirit, who makes us 
overseers of his church ; therefore it behoves ^s 
to take heed to ourselves and it. I have already 
shewn you that the Holy Ghost is said to make bish- 
ops, or pastors of the church, in three several re- 
spects : By qualifying them for the office ; by di- 
recting the ordainers to discern their qualifications 
and know the fittest men ; and by directing those 
ordainers, the people and themselves, for affixing 
them to a particular charge. All these were done 
in the apostle's days, in an extraordinary manner, by 
inspiration, at least very frequently. The same are 



Chop, b.] REFORMED PASTOR. 24§ 

done now in the ordinary way of the Spirit's assist- 
ance. But it is the same Spirit still; and men are 
made overseers of the church, when they are right- 
ly called, by the Holy Ghost now as well as then. 
It is a strange conceit, therefore, of the papists, 
to think that ordination by the hands of man is of 
more absolute necessity in the ministerial office 
than the calling of the Holy Ghost. God has deter- 
mined in his word that there shall be such an office, 
and what the work and power shall be, and what 
sort of men, as to their qualifications, shall receive 
it. None of these can be undone by man, or made 
unnecessary. God also gives men the qualifica- 
tions which he requires. So that all the church 
has to do, whether pastors or people, ordainers or 
electors, is butto discern and determine which are 
the men that God has thus qualified, and to ac- 
cept of them who are so provided, and upon con- 
sent to install them solemnly in this office. But I 
purposely cut short the controvertible part. 

What an obligation then is laid upon us by ou^r 
call ! If our commission be sent from heaven, it 

is not to be disobeved. When Paul was called 

■i 

by the voice of Christ, he was not disobedient to 
the heavenly vision. When the apostles were 
called by Christ from their secular employments, 
they immediately left friends, and house, and 
trade, and all, and followed him. Though our 
call be not so immediate or extraordinary, yet it 

x £ 



246 REFORMED PASTOR, [Ghap. £,.. 

is from the same Spirit. It is no safe course to 
imitate Jonah, in turning our back upon the com- 
mands of God. If we neglect our work, he has 
a spur to quicken us ; and if we overrun it, he 
has messengers enough to overtake us, fetch us 
back, and make us do it ; and it is better to do it 
at first than at last. This is the second motive. 

III. The third motive in the text is, the dignity 
of the object. It is the church of God that we 
must oversee and feed. It is that church for 
which the world is upheld, which is sanctified by 
the Holy Ghost, which is united to Christ, and is 
his mystical body ; that church which angels are 
present with and attend upon as ministering spir- 
its, whose very little ones have their angels be- 
holding the face of God in heaven. O what a 
charge have we undertaken ! And shall we be 
unfaithful ? Have we the stewardship of God's 
own family, and shall we neglect it ? Have we 
the guidance of those saints who shall live for 
ever with God in glory, and shall we neglect 
them? God forbid! I beseech you, brethren, 
let this thought awaken the negligent ! You who 
draw back from painful, displeasing, suffering du- 
ties, and will put off men's souls with ineffectual 
formalities ; do you think this is honourable usage 
of Christ's spouse ? Are the souls of men thought 
meet by God to see his face and liv'e for ever in. 



Ukap. 5.] REFORMED PASTOR. #47 

Ins glory, and are they not worthy of your utmost 
cost and labour ? Do you think so basely of the 
church of God, as if it deserved not the best of 
your care and help ? Were you the keepers of 
sheep or swine, you might better let them go, and 
say they were not worthy of looking after ; and 
yet you would scarcely do so if they were your 
own. But dare jou say so by the souls of men, 
even by the church of God ? Christ walks among 
them. Remember his presence, and keep all as 
clean as you can. The praises of the Most High 
God are in the midst of them. They are a sanc- 
tified, peculiar people, a kingly priesthood, a holy 
nation, a choice generation, to shew forth the 
praises of him who has called them ; and yet dare 
you neglect them ? What a high honour it is to be 
but one of them, yea but a door-keeper in the 
house of God : but to be the priest of these 
priests, and the ruler of these kings — this is such 
an honour as multiplies your obligations to dili- 
gence and fidelity in such a noble and glorious epl- 
ployment 

IV. The last motive mentioned in my text is, 
the price paid for the church which we oversee. God 
the Son purchased it with his own blood. O what 
an argument is here to quicken the negligent ; and 
what an argument to condemn those who will not 
be quickened to their duty by it ! ir> O, (says one 



248 REFORMED PASTOR. [Clltip. 5, 

of the ancient doctors) if Christ had but commit- 
ted to my keeping one spoonful of his blood in 
a fragile glass, how curiously should I have pre- 
served it, and how tender should I have been of 
that glass!" If then he have committed to me 
the purchase ot his blood, should I not as earnestly 
look to my charge ? What, sirs, shall we despise 
the blood of Christ : shall we think it was shed 
for those who are not worthy of our utmost care ! 
You may see here it is not a little fault that negli- 
gent pastors are guilty of. As much as in them 
lies the blood of Christ should be shed in vain : 
they would lose him those souls whom he has so 
dearly bought ! 

O then let us hear those arguments of Christ 
whenever we feel ourselves grow dull and care- 
less : c Did I die for them, and wilt not thou look 
after them ? Were they worth my blood, and 
are they not w r orth thy labour ? Did I come down 
from heaven to seek and to save that which was 
lost, and wilt not thou go to the next door, or 
street, or village, to seek them ? How small is thy 
labour ci condescension compared to mine ! I 
debased myself to this, but it is thy honour to be 
so employed. Have I done and suffered so much 
for their salvation ; and was I willing to make thee 
a co-worker with me ; and wilt thou refuse that 
little that lies upon thy hands ?' Every time we 
look upon our congregations, let U3 believingly 



tltap. 5.] REFORMED TASTOR. 249 

remember that they are the purchase of Christ's 
blood, and therefore should be regarded according- 
ly by us. 

And think what a confusion it will be at the last 
day to a negligent minister to have this blood of 
the Son of God pleaded against him, and for Christ 
to say, c It was the purchase of my blood that thou 
didst make lijrht of, and dost thou think to be saved 
by it thyself? 5 O, brethren, seeing Christ will 
bring his blood to plead with us, let it plead us to 
our duty, lest it plead us to damnation. 

I have done with the motives in the text itself. 
There are many more that might be gathered from 
the rest of this exhortation of the apostle ; bat we 
must not stay to mention all. If the Lord set home 
these few upon your hearts, I dare say we shall 
4ee reason to mend our pace ; and the change will 
be such in our hearts and in our ministry, that we 
ourselves and our congregations will have cause to 
bless God for it. I feel myself unworthy to be 
your monitor ; but a monitor you must have ; and 
it is better for us to hear of our sin and duty from 
any body than from none at all. Receive the ad- 
monition, and you will see no cause in the mon- 
itor's unworthiness to repent of it ; but if you re~ 
ject it, the unworthiest messenger may bear thft 
witness against vou which will confound vou, 



250 REFORMED PASTOR. [CllCbp. 5, 

Before I leave this exhortation, as I have ap- 
plied it to our general work, so I shall carry it 
a little farther to some of the special parts and 
modes of oar duty which were before express- 
ed. 

I. See that the work of saving grace be thoroughly 
wrought on your own soids. It is a fearful case to 
be an unsanctified piofessor, but much more to be 
an unsanctified preacher. Does it not make yon 
tremble when you open the bible, lest you should 
there read the sentence of your own condemna- 
tion ? When you pen your sermons, little do you 
think that you are drawing up indictments against 
your own souls ! When you are arguing against 
sin, you are aggravating your own ; when you pro- 
claim to your hearers the riches of God's grace, 
you publish your own iniquity in rejecting it, and 
your unhappiness in being without it. What can 
you do in persuading men to come to Christ, in 
drawing them from the world, in urging them to a 
life of faith and holiness ; but conscience, if it were 
awake, might tell you that you speak all this to 
your own confusion ! If you mention hell, you 
mention your own inheritance ; if you describe 
the joys of heaven, you describe your misery that 
have no right to it. What can you devise to say, 
for the most part, that will not be against your own 
souls ? O miserable life, that a man should study 



Chap. 5.] REFORMED PASTOR. 251 

and preach against himself, and spend all his days 
in a course of self-condemnation ! A graceless, 
unexperienced preacher, is one of the most un- 
happy creatures upon earth ; and yet he is usually 
most insensible of his unhappiness f for he has 
so many counterfeits, which seem like the gold of 
saving grace, and so many splendid stones, which 
seem like the christian's jewel, that he is seldom 
troubled with the thoughts of his poverty ; but 
thinks he is rich and wants nothing, when he is 
poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked. He is 
acquainted with the holy scripture, he is exercised 
in holy duties, he does not live in open, disgrace- 
ful sin, he serves at God's altar, he reproves other 
men's faults, and preaches up holiness both of heart 
and life ; and how can this man chuse but be holy ? 
O what an aggravated misery is this, to perish in 
the midst of plenty ; and to famish with the bread 
of life in our hands, offering it to others, and ur 
ging it on them : that those ordinances of God 
should be the occasions of our delusion, which are 
instituted to be the means of our conviction and 

i 

salvation ; and that while we hold the looking 
glass of the gospel to others, to shew them the true 
face of the state of their souls, we should either 
look on the back of it ourselves, where we can 
see nothing, or turn it aside, that it may misrepre^ 
sent us to ourselves, 



%0% REFORMED PASTOR, [Chap. fi. 

If such a wretched man would take my counsel, he 
should make a stand, and call his heart and life to 
an account, and fall a preaching awhile to himself, 
before he preach any more to others ; he should 
consider whether food in the mouth will nourish 
that goes not in the stomach ; whether it be a 
Christ in the moutk or in the heart that will save 
men ; whether he who names him should not de- 
part from iniquity ; whether God will hear their 
prayers, if they regard iniquity in their hearts; 
Whether it will serve the turn at the day 6f reck- 
oning to say, " Lord, we have prophesied in thy 
name," when they siall hear, " depart from me, 
I know you not ;" what comfort will it be to Ju- 
das when he is gone to his own place, to remem- 
ber that he preached with the rest of the apostles, 
or that he sat with Christ, and was called by him, 
friend : and whether a wicked preacher shall stand 
in the judgment, or sinners in the assembly of the 
just ? When such thoughts as these have entered 
into his soul, and kindly wrought awhile upon his 
conscience, I would advise him next to go to the 
congregation, and there preach over Origen's* 

* Origen lived in the latter part of the second, and be- 
ginning of the third century. Be was (rained up by his 
father from his infancy in the Christian religion, an-* in 
the knowledge of literature ; but especially in the know- 
ledge of the sacred scriptures. When be was seventeen 
years old, his father being carried to prison, he had such 
a fervent desire to suffer martyrdom with him, that he 



Chap. 5.] REFORMED PASTOR. 253 

Sermon on Psalm 1. 16, 17; " But to the wicked, 
saith God, what hast thou to do to declare my 
statutes, or that thou shouldst take my covenant 
into thy mouth, seeing thou hatest instruction, and 
hast cast my words behind thee?" Aad when he 
has read this text, to sit down, and expound, and 
apply it by his tears ; and then to make a free con- 
fession of his sin, and lament his case before the 
assembly, and desire their earnest prayers to God 
for pardoning and renewing grace ; and so to 

would have thrust himself fnto the persecutors' hands, 
had he not been prevented by his mother, who in the 
night stole away his clothes; hence, for shame of being 
seen naked, and not from fear of dying, he was constrain- 
ed to stay at home. 

" After he entered into the sacred work of the minis- 
try, many of the gentiles resorted to his lectures, and 
were, by the blessing of God upon his word, truly con- 
verted to Christianity. In this employment he prospered 
exceedingly, and purchased to himself a famous name 
among all the faithful, particularly by cheerfully em- 
bracing and mightily encouraging the martyrs. He 
visited such as were in deep dungeons and close impris- 
onment, encouraged them when they were to receive 
their last sentence, and also after sentence was pro- 
nounced : yea, he accompanied them to the place of exe- 
cution, often putting himself thereby into great danger. 
He boldly embraced and kissed them at their farewell^ 
so that once the heathens in their furious rage had stoned 
him to death, if the power of God had not marvellously 
delivered him. He was so extremely hated by the infi» 
dels, that soldiers were hired to guard his house bv the 

X 



254 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 5, 

close with Christ in heart, who before admitted 
him no farther than into the brain, that hereafter 
he may preach a Christ whom he knows, feel 
what he speaks, and commend the riches of the 
gospel by experience. 

It is the common danger and calamity of the 
church to have unregenerate and inexperienced 
pastors ; and to have men become preachers be- 
fore they are christians ; to be sanctified by dedi- 
cation to the altar, as God's priests, before they 

multitudes who came to him to be instructed in the chris- 
tian, faith. The rage of his enemies was so violent 
against him for this cause, that he could not with safety 
walk the streets of Alexandria. He was obliged fre- 
quently to change \m lodging?, thereby to escape the 
pursuers. 

" In the reign of Decius, he underwent, for the doc- 
trine of Christ, bands and torments in his body, rackings 
with bars of iron, dungeons, besides terrible threats of 
death and burning, and divers other torments ; all which 
he couragiously and patiently suffered for Christ. At 
lengih, hearing that some christians were carried to an 
idol temple, to force them to sacrifice, he ran thither out 
of zeal to encourage and dissuade them from it. This 
wes what his adversaries expected and wished for; and 
therefore letting go the ethers, they laid hold upon him, 
giving him lis choice, either to offer ineence to the idol, 
or have his body defiled with a foul and ugly blackmoor, 
whom they had prepared for the purpose. Origen being 
in a miserable strait, at last chose rather to offer incense 
than have his chaste body polluted by sfeeh a filthy crea- 
ture. Then thoy immediatelv put incense into his trem* 



Chap. 5 ] refokmed pastor. 255 

are sanctified by hearty dedication to Christ as 
his disciples ; and so to worship an unknown God, 
and to preach an unknown Christ, an unknown 
Spirit, an unknown state of holiness and commu- 
nion with God, and a glory that is unknown, and 
likely to be unknown to them for ever. He is 
likely to be bat a heartless preacher who has not 
the Christ and grace that he preaches in his heart. 
O that all our students in the university would well 
consider this ! What a poor business it is to them- 

blmg" hands, and while he demurred about it, they took 
his hands and caused him to throw it into the fire ; upon 
which they cried aloud, " Origen hath sacrificed ! Origen 
hath sacrificed ! M After which he was excommunicated 
by the church ; and being* filled with shame and sorrow, 
he left Alexandria, and went into Judea. When he 
came to Jerusalem, being* well known there by his learn 
ed expositions, and gift of utterance, he was entreated 
by the ministers to give them a sermon in the church. 
After much importunity, being in a manner constrained 
thereto, he stood up, took his bible, opened it and the 
first place he cast his eye upon, was Psalm 1. 16, 17, 
But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to 
declare my statutes^ or that thou shouldesi take my covenant 
in thy mouth, seeing that thou hatest instruction^ and hast 
cast my words behind thee? Which words, as soon as he 
had read, he closed the book, sat down, and bur^t into a 
flood of tears (the whole congregation weeping with him) 
so that he could not say any more to them. After this 
he wandered up and down in great grief and distress cf 
conscience, and wrote his famous lamentation." 

See Clark's Lives €>f the Fathers. 



256 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 5. 

selves to spend their time in knowing some little of 
the works of God, and some of those names that 
the divided tongues of the nations have imposed on 
them, and not to know the Lord himself, exalt him 
in their hearts, nor to be acquainted with that one re- 
newing work that should make them happy. They 
do but walk in a vain shew, and spend their lives 
like dreaming men, while they busy their wits and 
tongues about, abundance of names and notions, and 
are strangers to God and the life of saints. If 
ever God awaken them by his grace, they will 
have cogitations and employments so much more 
serious than their unsanctified studies and disputa- 
tions were, that they will confess they did but 
dream before. A world of business they make 
themselves about nothing, while they are wilful 
strangers to the primitive, independent, necessary 
Being, who is all in all. Nothing can be rightly 
known, if God be not known ; nor is any study 
well managed, nor to any great purpose, where 
God is not studied. We know but little of the 
creature, till we know it as it stands in its order 
and respect to God : single letters and syllables un- 
connected are nonsense. He who overlooks the 
Alpha and Omega, and sees not the beginning and 
end, and him in all, who is the all of all, sees noth- 
ing at all. All creatures are, as such, broken syl- 
lables : they signify nothing as separated from God. 
Were they separated actually, they would cease t$ 



Chap. 5.J REFORMED PASTOR. £6$ 

be. and the separation would be an annihilation : 
and when we separate them in our fancies, we 
make nothing of them to ourselves. It is on'± 
thins to know the creatures as Aristotle, and anoth- 
er thing -to know T them as a christian. None but a 
christian can read one line of his physics, so as to 
understand '^it rightly. It is a high and excellent 
Study, and of greater use than many w 7 e!l under- 
stand ; but it is the smallest part of it that Aris- 
totle can teach us. When man was made perfect, 
and placed in a perfect w^orld, where all things 
w f ere in perfect order and very good, the whole 
creation w 7 as then man's book, in which he was to 
read the nature and wdll of his great Creator ; eve- 
ry creature had the name of God so legibly engrav- 
en on it, that man might run and read it. He 
could not open his eyes without seeing some im- 
age of God, but no where so full and lively as in 
himself; and therefore it was his work to studv 
the whole volume of nature, but first and chiefly 
to study himself. If man had held on in this pre- 
scribed work, he would have continued and in- 
creased in the knowledge of God and himself: but 
when he would needs know and love the creature 
and himself in a way of separation from God, he 
lost the knowledge of all, both of the creature, 
himself, and God, so far as it could beatify, and was 
worth the name of knowledge : and instead of it he 
has got the unhappy knowledge which he affected, 

v 2 



258 REFORMED PASTOR. '[Chap. & 

even the empty notions and fantastic knowledge of 
the creature and himself as thus separated. Thus 
he who lived to and upon the Creator, now lives 
to and upon the other creatures and himself; and 
thus " every man at his best state (the learned as 
well as the illiterate) is altogether vanity— Surely 
every man walketh in a vain shew : surely they 
are disquieted in vain." (Ps. xxxix. 5, 6.) It must 
be well observed, that as God laid not aside the re- 
lation of a Creator by becoming our Redeemer, 
nor the right of his propriety and government of 
us in that relation, but the work of redemption 
stands in some subordination to that of creation, 
and the law of the Redeemer to the law of the 
Creator ; so also the duties that we owed God as 
Creator have not ceased, but the duties that we 
owe to the Redeemer, as such, are subordinate 
thereto. It is the work of Christ to bring us back 
to God from whom we fell, and to restore us to our 
perfection of holiness and obedience : and as he is 
the way to the Father, so faith in him is the way 
to our former employment and enjoyment of God. 
I hope you perceive what I aim at in all this, viz. 
that to see God in his creatures, to love him, and 
converse with him, was the employment of man 
in his upright state ; that this is so far from ceasing 
to be our duty, that it is the work of Christ to 
bring us back to it : aaxl therefore the most holy 
men are the most excellent students of God's works, 



Chap. 5.] REFORMED PASTOR. 259 

and none but the holy can rightly study or know 
them. His works are great, sought out of all them 
that have pleasure therein ; but not for themselves, 
but for him that made them. Your study of 
physics and other sciences is not worth a rush 
if it be not God by them that you seek after. To 
see and admire, to reverence and adore, to love 
and delight in God appearing to us in his works, 
and purposely to peruse them for the knowledge 
of God, this is the true and only philosophy, and 
the contrary is mere folly, and is called so again 
and again by God himself. This is the sanctifica- 
tion of your studies, when they are devoted to 
God, and when he is the life of them all, and they 
are directed to him as their end and principal ob- 
ject. 

Therefore I shall presume to tell you by the 
way, that it is a grand error, and of dangerous 
consequence in the christian academies, (pardon 
the censure from one so unfit for it, seeing the ne- 
cessity of the case commands it) that they study 
the creature before the Redeemer, and set them- 
selves to physics and metaphysics, and mathemat- 
ics, before they set themselves to theology ; where- 
as no man who has not the vitals of theology is ca- 
pable of going beyond a fool in philosophy ; and 
all that such do is but doting about questions and 
opposition of sciences, falsely so called. And as 
by affecting a separated creature-knowledge Adam 



f&Ck "REFORMED PASTOR. [Cfaxp. 5« 

fell from God, so they who mind these profane* 
empty babblings, and oppositions of science, false- 
ly so called, miss th<* end of all right study ; they 
err concerning the faith ; while they will needs 
prefer these, they miss that faith which they pre- 
tend to aim at. Their pretence is, that theology, 
being the end, and the most perfect branch, must 
be the last, and all the subservient sciences must 
go before it.*— (1.) There is some natural knowl- 
edge indeed pre-requisite, and somewhat of art, 
before any can receive theology ; but that is no 
mere than their mothers can teach them before 
(hey go to school. — (2.) All right natural knowl- 
edge tends to the increase of theological knowl- 
edge ; but that which is a mean to its perfection 
may be the effect or consequence of its beginning. 
«-— (3.) The end must be first known, because it 
must be intended before the choice or use of 
means. — (4.) The scripture reveals to us the 
things of God himself in the most easy way, and 
therefore he must be first learned there. — (5.) 
' The book of the creatures is not to shew us more 
of God than the scripture does ; but by represent- 
ing him to us in more sensible appearances, to 
make our knowledge of him the more intense and 
operative ; and being continually before our eyes, 
God also would be continually before them, if we 
could aright discern him in thfcm. 



Chap, 5.] REFORMED PASTOR. 261 

It is evident therefore that theology must lay the 
ground, and lead the way in all our studies, when 
we are once so far acquainted with words and things 
as is needful to our understanding the sense of its 
principles. If God must be searched after in our 
search of the creature, and we must affect no sep- 
arated knowledge of them, then tutors must read 
God to their pupils in all ; and divinity must be the 
beginning, the middle, the end, the life, the all of 
their studies ; and our physics and metaphysics 
must be reduced to theology, and nature must be 
read as one of God's books, which is purposely 
written for the revelation of himself. The holy 
scripture is the easiest book. When you have first 
learned God and his will there, in the necessary 
things, address yourselves cheerfully to the study 
of his works, that you may there see the creature 
itself as your alphabet, and their order as the con- 
nexion of syllables, words and sentences, and God 
as the subject matter of all, and their respect to 
him as the sense or signification ; and then carry 
on both together, and never more play the mere 
scriveners ; stick no more in your letters and words^ 
but read every creature as a christian or a divine. 
If you see not yourselves and all things as living, 
and moving, and having being in God, you see noth- 
ing, whatever you think you see. If you perceive 
not in your perusals of the creatures, that God is 
all, and in all, you may think perhaps that you 



£62 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 5. 

know something, bat you know nothing as you 
ought to know. He who sees and loves God in the 
creature, the same is known and loved of him. 
Think not so basely of the works of God and your 
physics as that they are only preparatory studies 
for boys. It is a most high and noble part of holi- 
ness to search after, behold, admire, and love the 
great Creator in all his works. How much have 
the saints of God been employed in it ! The be- 
ginning of Genesis, the books of Job and the 
Psalms, may acquaint us that our physics are not so 
little akin to theology as some suppose. I do there- 
fore in zeal to the good of the church, and their 
own success in their most necessary labours, pro- 
pound it to the consideration of all pious tutors, 
whether they should not as early and as diligently 
read to their pupils, or cause them to read the chief 
parts of practical divinity (and there is no other) as 
any of the sciences ; and whether they should not 
go together from the very first ? It is well that 
they hear sermons ; but that is not enough. If 
they have need of private help in philosophy be- 
sides public lectures, how much more in theology! 
If tutors would make it their principal business to 
acquaint (.heir pupils with the doctrine of life, and 
labour to set it home upon their hearts, that, all 
might be received according to its weight, and read 
to their hearts as well as to their heads, and so car- 
ry on the rest of their instructions, that it might ap- 



UlOp. 5.} REFORMED TASTOtt. 263 

pear they made them but subservient to this, and 
that their pupils may feel what they drive at in all, 
and so that they would teach all their philosophy 
m habit* theologico, this might be a happy mean to 
make happy souls, a happy church and common- 
wealth. The same I mean also respecting school- 
masters to their scholars. But when languages and 
philosophy have almost all their time and diligence, 
and instead of reading philosophy like divines, they 
read divinity lite philosophers, as if it were a thing 
of no more moment than a lesson of music or arith- 
metic, and not the doctrine of everlasting life ; this 
is what blasts so many in the bud, and pesters the 
church with unsanctified teachers. Hence it is 
that we have so many worldings to preach of the* 
invisible felicity, and so many carnal men to declare 
the mysteries of the Spirit ; and 1 would I had not 
cause to say, so many infidels to preach Christ, or 
so many atheists to preach the living God ; and 
when they are taught philosophy before or without 
religion, what wonder if their philosophy be all, or 
most of their religion ; if they grow up into admi- 
rations of their unprofitable fancies, and deify their 
own deluded brains, when they know no other God ; 
and if they reduce all their theology to their phi- 
losophy, as some have done. 

Again : I address mygelf to all those who have the 
education of youth, especially in order to prepare 
them for the ministry. You who are schoolmasters 



284 reformed pastor. [Chap. 5. 

and tutors, begin and end with the things of God. 
Speak daily to the hearts of your scholars those 
things which must be wrought into their hearts, or 
else they will be undone. Let some piercing words 
fall frequently from your mouths, of God, the state 
of their souls, and the life to come. Do not say 
they are too young to understand and entertain 
them. You little know what impressions they may 
make which you discern not. Not only the soul of 
that boy, but a congregation, or many souls there- 
in, may have cause to bless God for your zeal and 
diligence, yea for one such seasonable word. You 
have a great advantage above others to do them 
good. You have them before they are grown to the 
worst, and they will hear you when they will not 
hear another. If they are destined to the ministry, 
you are preparing them for the special service of 
God ; and should they not first have the knowledge 
of him whom they must serve ? O think with 
yourselves what a sad thing it will be to their own 
souls, and what a wrong to the church of God, if 
they come out from you with carnal hearts to so 
holy, spiritual, and great a work ! Of a hundred 
students that are in one of your colleges, how many 
may there be who are serious, experienced godly 
men : some talk of too small a number. If you 
should send one half of them on a work that they 
are unfit for, what bloody work will they make in 
the church ! Whereas if you be the means of their 



{'hop. bi] REFORMED PASTOR. JG3 

i borough sanctification, how many souls may bless 
you, and what greater good can you possibly do the 
church ! When their hearts are once savingly af- 
fected with the doctrine which they study and 
preach, they will study it heartily, and preach it 
heartily. Their own experience will direct them 
to the fittest subjects, furnish them with the matter, 
and quicken them to set it home. I observe that 
the best of our hearers can feel and savour such 
experimental preachers, and usually less regard 
others, whatever may be their accomplishments. 
See therefore that yon make not work for seques- 
trators, nor for the groans and lamentation of the 
church, nor for the great tormenter of the murder- 
ers of souls. 

II. Content not yourselves to have the main 
work of grace ; but be also very careful that your 
graces be kept in life and action, and that you preach 
to yourselves the sermons you study before you preach 
them to others. If you did this for your own sakes 
it would not be lost labour : but 1 am speaking to 
you on account of the public, and that you would 
do it for the sake of the church. When your minds 
are in a'heavenly and holy frame, your people are 
likely to partake of the fruits of it. Your pray- 
ers, praises, and doctrine, will be heavenly and 
sweet to them. They will feel when you have been 
much with God. That which is most on your hearts 

z 



266 reformed pastoh. [Chap, 5. 

is likely to be most in their ears, I confess, I 
speak it by lamentable experience, that I publish 
to my flock the distempers of my soul. When I 
let my heart grow cold, my preaching is cold ; and 
when it is confused, my preaching is so too : and I 
can observe the same frequently in the best of my 
hearers, that when I have a while grown cold ia 
preaching, they have cooled accordingly ; and the 
next prayers that I have heard from them have 
been too much like my preaching. We are the 
nurses of Christ's little ones. If we forbear our 
food we shall famish them ; they will quickly find 
it in the want of milk, and we may quickly see it 
again in them in the cold and dull discharge of their 
several duties. If we let our love go down, we are 
not likely to raise theirs up. If we abate our holy 
care and fear, it will appear in our doctrine. If the 
matter shew it not, the manner will. If we feed on 
unwholesome food, either errors or fruitless contro- 
versies, our hearers are likely to fare the worse for 
it. Whereas if we abound in faith, love, and zeal, 
how will it overflow to the refreshing of our con- 
gregations, and how will it appear in the increase of 
the same graces in others. 

O, brethren, watch therefore over your own 
hearts ! Keep out sinful passions and worldly 
inclinations ; keep up the life of faith and love ; 
be much at home ; and be much with God. If 
it be not your daily, serious business, to study 



CllCtp. 5. J REFORMED PASTOR. 267 

your own hearts, subdue corruptions, and live as 
upon God ; if you do not make it your very work, 
which you constantly attend, all will go amiss, and 
you will starve your auditors ; or if you have but 
an affected fervency, you cannot expect a blessing 
to attend it : above all, be much in secret prayer 
and meditation. There you must fetch the hea- 
venly fire that must kindle your sacrifices. Re- 
member you cannot decline and neglect your duty 
to your own hurt alone : many will be losers by 
it as well as you. For your people's sake there- 
fore look to your hearts. If a pang of spiritual 
pride should overtake you, and you should grow 
into any dangerous or schlsmatical conceits, and 
vent your own over- value i inventions to draw r 
away disciples after you, what a wound might 
this prove to the church that you are set over ; and 
you might become a plague to them instead of 
a blessing, and cause them to wish they had never 
seen your faces. O take heed therefore of your 
own judgments and affections! Error and vanity 
will slily insinuate, and seldom come without fair 
pretences. Great distempers and apostasies have 
usually small beginnings. The prince of darkness 
frequently personates the angels of light, that he 
may draw children of light again into his darkness. 
How easily also will distempers creep in upon our 
affections, and our first love, and fear, and care, 



268 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 5. 

abate ! Watch therefore for the sake of your- 
selves and others. 

More particularly : A minister should take some 
special pains with his heart before he goes to the 
congregation. If it be then cold, how can he ex- 
pect to warm the hearts of the hearers ? Go 
therefore then especially to God for life ; and 
read some rousing, awakening book, or meditate 
on the weight of the subject that you are to speak 
of, and on the great necessity of your people's 
souls, that you may go in the zeal of the Lord 
into his house. 

III. Stir up yourselves to the great work of God 
when you are upon it, nnd see that you do it with all 
your might. Though I move you not to a constant 
loudness, (for that will make } r our fervency con- 
temptible) yet see that you have a constant se- 
riousness ; and when the matter requires it, (as 
it should do in the application at least of every 
doctrine) then lift up your voice, spare not your 
spirits, and speak to them as to men that must be 
awakened either here or in hell. Look upon 
your congregations believingly, and with compas- 
sion, and think in what a state of joy or torment 
they must all be for ever; and then, I think, it 
will make you earnest, and melt your heart with a 
sense of their condition. O speak not one cold 
or careless word about so great a business as heav- 



Cfiap. 5.] REFORMED PASTOR. 269 

cn or hell ! Whatever you do, let the people see 
that you are in good earnest. 

Truly, hrethren, they are great works that are 
to be done, and you must not think that trifling 
will dispatch them. You cannot break men's 
hearts by jesting with them, telling them a smooth 
tale, or patching up a gaudy oration. Men will 
not cast away their dearest pleasures at the drowsy 
request of one who seems not to mean as he 
speaks, or to care much whether his request be 
granted. If you say, ; The work is God's, and he 
may do it by the weakest means ;' I answer, It 
is true, he may ; but yet his ordinary way is to 
work by means, and to make not only the matter 
that is preached, but also the manner of preaching 
instrumental to the work : or else it were a small 
matter whom he should employ that would but 
gpeak the truth. If grace made as little use of 
the ministerial persuasions as some conceive, we 
need not so much mind a reformation, nor cast out 
the insufficient. 

A great matter also with most of our hearers 
lies in the very pronunciation and tone of speech* 
The best matter will scarcely move them if it be 
not movingly delivered. Especially see that there 
be no affectation, but that w r e speak as familiarly 
to our people as we would do if we were talking 
to them personally. The want of a familiar tone 
a~d expression is as great a defect in the deliverer 

7. 2 



270 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 



3 



of most of us as any thing whatsoever, and that 
which we should be very careful to amend. When 
a man has a reading or declaiming tone, like a 
school-bo}' saying his lesson or an oration, few 
are moved with any thing that he says. Let us 
therefore rouse ourselves up to the work of the 
Lord, and speak to our people as for their lives, 
and save them as by violence, pulling them out 
of the fire. Satan will not be charmed out of his 
possession. We must lay siege to the souls of 
sinners, which are his garrisons, find out where 
his chief strength lies, lay the battery of God's 
ordinance against it, and ply it closely till a breach 
be made ; and then suffer them not by their shifts 
to make it up again ; but find out their common 
objections, and give them a full and satisfactory 
answer. We have reasonable creatures to deal 
with ; and as they abuse their reason against the 
truth, so they will have better reason for it before 
they obey. ,We must therefore see that all our 
sermons be convincing, and that we make the light 
of scripture and reason shine so bright in the faces 
of the ungodly, that it may force them to see, 
unless they wilfully shut their eyes. A sermon 
full of mere words, how neatly soever it be com- 
posed, while there is wanting the light of evidence 
and the life of zeal, is but an image or a weil-dres- 
sed carcase. In preaching there is intended a 
communion of soul?, am! a communication of seme 



Chap. 5.] REFORMED PASTOR. 271 

what from ours to theirs. As we and they have 
understandings, and wills, and affections, so must 
the Dent of our endeavours be to communicate 
the fullest light of evidence from our understand- 
ings to theirs, and to warm their hearts by kind- 
ling in them holy affections, as by a communication 
from ours. The great things which we have to 
commend to our hearers have reason enough on 
their side, and lie plain before them in the word 
of God. We should therefore be so furnished 
with evidence as to come as with a torrent upon 
their understandings, and bear down all before 
us ; and with our dilemma's and expostulations to 
bring them to a nonplus, and pour shame upon all 
their vain objections, that they may be forced to 
yield to the power of truth, and see that it is 
great and will prevail. 

IV. Keep up earnest desires and expectations of 
success. If your hearts be not set on the end of 
your labours, and you long not to see the conver- 
sion and edification of your hearers, and do not 
study and preach in hope, you are not likely to 
see much fruit of it. It is an ill sign of a false, 
self-seeking heart, that can be content to be still 
doing and see no fruit of their labour. So I have 
observed that God seldom blesses any man's work 
so much as his, whose heart is set upon success. 
Let it be the property of such as Judas to have 



272 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap . C . 

more regard to the bag than to their business, and 
not to care much for what they pretend to care ; 
and to think if they have their tithes and the love 
and commendations of the people, that they have 
enough to satisfy them. But let all who preach 
for Christ and men's salvation be unsatisfied till 
they gain the objects of their preaching. Re has 
not the right motives of a preacher who is indif- 
ferent whethetf he obtain them, is not grieved 
when he misses them, and rejoiced when he sees 
the desired issue. When a man only studies what 
to say, and how with commendation to spend the 
hour, and looks no more after it, unless it be to 
know what people think of his own abilities, and 
thus holds on from year to year ; I must needs 
think that this man preaches for himself, drives 
on a private trade of his own, and does not preach 
for Christ even w T hen he preaches Christ, how 
excellently soever he may seem to do it. No 
wise or charitable physician is content to be still 
giving physic and see no amendment among his 
patients, but have them all to die upon his hands ; 
nor will any wise and honest schoolmaster be con- 
lent to be still teaching, though his scholars profit 
not ; but either of them would grow weary of the 
employment. I know that a faithful minister may 
have comfort when he wants success ; and though 
Israel be not gathered our reward is with the 
Lord ; and our acceptance is not according to the 



Chap. 5.] REFORMED PASTOR. 273 

fruit, but according to our labour. If God set us 
to wash blackamoors, and cure those who will not 
be cured, we shall not lose our labour, though we 
perform not the cure. But then he who does not 
long for the success of his labours can have none 
of this comfort, because he was not a faithful 
labourer : this is only for them that I speak of, 
who are set upon the end, and grieved if they 
miss it. This is not the full comfort that we must 
desire, but only such a part as may quiet us though 
we miss the rest. What if God will accept a phy- 
sician though the patient die ! He must work in 
compassion, long for a better issue, and be sorry 
if he miss it, for all that ; for it is not only our 
own reward that we labour for, but other men's 
salvation. I confess, for my part, I marvel at 
some ancient and reverend men, who have lived 
twenty, forty, or fifty years, with an unprofitable 
people, where they have seen so little fruit of 
their labours, that it was scarcely discernible, how 
they can with so much patience still go on ! Were 
it my case, though I durst not leave the vineyard, 
nor quit my calling, yet I should suspect that it 
was God's will I should go somewhere else, and 
another take my place who might be fitter for 
them ; and I should not be easily satisfied to spend 
my days in such a manner. 



274 REFORMED pastor. [Chap. 5. 

V. Do well as well as say well. Be zealous of 
good works. Spare not any cost, if it may promote 
your Master's work. 

1. Maintain your innocence, and walk without 
offence. Let your lives condemn sin and persuade 
men to duty. Would you have your people be 
more careful of their souls than you are of yours ? 
If you would have them redeem their time, do 
not you mispend yours. If you would not have 
them vain in their conversation, see that you speak 
yourselves the things which may edify and tend 
to minister grace to the hearers. Order your 
own families well, if you would have them do so 
by theirs. Be not proud and lordly, if you would 
have them to be lowly. There is no virtue 
wherein your example will do more, at least to 
abate men^s prejudice, than humility, and meek- 
ness, and self-denial. Forgive injuries, and be 
not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with 
good. Do as our Lord, who when he was reviled, 
reviled not again. If sinners be stubborn and 
contemptuous , flesh and blood will persuade you 
to take up their weapons, and to master them by 
their carnal means ; but that is not the way, further 
than necessary self-preservation or public good 
requires it ; but overcome them with kindness, 
patience, and gentleness. The former may shew 
that you have more worldly power than they. 



Chap. 5.] REFORMED PASTOR 275 

wherein yet they are for the most part too hard 
for the faithful ; but it is the latter only that will 
tell them that you outdo them in spiritual excel- 
lence, and in the true qualifications of a saint. If 
you think that Christ is more worthy of being 
imitated than Caesar or Alexander, and that it is 
more glorious to be a Christian than to be a con- 
queror, yea to be a man than a beast, which often 
exceed us in strength, then contend with charity, 
and not with violence ; and set meekness, love, 
and patience, against force, and not force against 
force. Remember you are obliged to be the 
servants of all. Condescend to men of low es- 
tate. Be not strange to the poor of your flock. 
They are apt to take your strangeness for con- 
tempt. Familiarity improved to holy ends is ex- 
ceedingly necessary, and may do abundance of 
good. Speak not stoutly or disrespectfully to any 
one : but be courteous to the meanest as your 
equal in Christ. A kind and winning carriage 
is a cheap way of advantage to do men good. 

2. Remember what I said before of works of 
charity. Go to the poor, and see what they want, 
and shew at once your compassion to soul and 
bod}\ Buy them a catechism and some small 
books that are most likely to do them good ; and 
bestow them on your neighbours, and make them 
promise you to read them ; and especially to spend 
that part of the Lord's day therein which they can 



76 reformed pastor. [Chap. 5. 



spare from greater duties. Stretch your purse to 
the utmost, and do all the good you can. Think 
not of being rich ; seek not great things for your- 
selves or posterity. What if you impoverish 
yourselves to do a greater good : will it be loss or 
gain ? If you believe that God is your safest purse- 
bearer, and that to expend in his service is the 
greatest usury, and the most thriving trade, shew 
them that you believe it. I know that flesh and 
blood will cavil before it will lose its prey, and will 
never want somewhat to say against that duty 
which is against its interest. But mark what I say, 
and may the Lord set it home upon your hearts : 
That man who has any thing in the world so dear 
to him that 4ie cannot spare it for Christ, if he call 
for it, is no true christian. And because a carnal 
heart will not believe that Christ calls for it when 
he cannot spare it, and therefore makes that his 
self-deceiving shift ; I say further, That that man 
who will not be persuaded that duty is duty, be- 
cause he cannot spare that for Christ which is 
therein to be expended, is no true christian ; for 
a false heart corrupts the understanding, and that 
a°;ain increases the delusions of the heart. Do not 
take it therefore as an undoing to make you friends 
of the mammon of unrighteousness, and to lay up a 
treasure in heaven, though you leave yourselves 
but little on earth. 



Chap. 5.] REFORMED PASTOR. 277 

I know, where the heart is carnal and covetous, 
words will not wring the money out of their hands. 
They can say all this and more to others : but say- 
ing is one thing, and believing is another. But 
with those who are true believers, methinks, such 
considerations should prevail. O what abundance 
of good might ministers do, if they w T ould butjive 
in a contempt of the world, and the riches and glo- 
ry of it, and expend all they have for their Mas- 
ter's use, and pinch their flesh that they might 
have wherewith to do good. This would unlock 
more hearts to the reception of their doctrine than 
all their oratory will do ; and without this, singu- 
larity in religion will appear but hypocrisy, and it 
is likely that it is so. Though we need not do as 
the papists, who betake them to monasteries and 
cast away property, yet we must have nothing but 
what we have for God. 

VI. Maintain your christian and brotherly unity 
and communion, and do as much of God's work as 
you can in unanimity and holy concord. Blessed 
be the Lord that it is so well with us in this coun- 
ty with regard to this as it is 1 We lose our author- 
ity with our people when we divide. They will 
yield to us when we go together, who would resist 
and comtemn the best of us alone. Two things in 
order to this I beseech you to observe : 

a a 



278 REFORMED pasto?.. [Chap. u s 

1. Still maintain your meetings for communion, 
incorporate and hold all christian correspondence, 
grow not strange to one another, do not say that 
you have business of your own to do when you 
should be at any such meeting or other work for 
God. It is not only the mutual edification that we 
receive bv lectures, disputations, or conferences, 
(though *roat is not to be disregarded) but it is es- 
pecially for consultations for the common good, 
and maintaining our communion, that we must thus 
assemble. Though your own person might be 
without the benefit of such meetings, yet the 
church and our common work require them. Do 
not then shew yourselves contemners or rieglect- 
eTs of such a necessary work. Distance breeds* 
strangeness, and foments dividing flames and jea- 
lousies, which communion will prevent or cure. 
Our enemies' chief plot is to divide us, that they 
may weaken us. Conspire not therefore with the 
enemies, and take not their course. Indeed min- 
isters have need of one another, and must improve 
the gifts of God in one another ; and the self-suf- 
ficient are the most deficient, being proud and 
empty men. Some there are who come not among 
their brethren to do or receive good, nor afford 
them any of their assistance in consultation for the 
common good, and their excuse is, ' We love to 
live privately.' To whom I say, Why do you not 
on the same grounds forbear going to church, and 



Cl'tp. b.\ REFORMED PASTOR. 279 

sij yo« love to live privately? Is not ministerial 
communion a duty as well as common christian 
communion ; and has not the church always i\i >nght 
so, and practised accordingly { If you mean, ihat 
you love your own ease or convenience better than 
uod's service, say so, and speak your minds. But 
I suppose there are few who think chat any just 
excuse, though thev will nave us no batter. Some- 
thing else lies at the bottom. 

2. Unite in necessary truths, and tolerate tolera- 
ble failings ; bear with one another in things that 
may be borne with, and do not make a larger creed 
and more necessaries than God has done : and to 
that end, let no man's writings, nor the judgment 
of any party, though right, be taken as a test, or 
made that rule. — (1.) Lay not too great stress upon 
controverted opinions which have godly men, and 
especially whole churches, on both sides. — (2.) 
Lay not too great stress on those controversies 
that are ultimately resolved into philosophical un- 
certainties, as some unprofitable controversies are 
about free-will, the manner of the Spirit's opera^ 
tion of grace, the divine decrees, and pre-deter- 
mination. — (3.) Lay not too great stress on those 
controversies that are merely verbal, and which, 
if they were anatomized, would appear to be no 
more. Of w r hich sort are far more, (I speak it 
confidently upon certain knowledge) that now make 
a great noise in tlje world, and tear the church , 



280 reformed pastor. [Chap. 5~ 

than almost any of the eager contenders that ever 
I spoke with will believe. — (4.) Lay not too much 
on any point of faith which was disowned or un- 
known to the whole church of Christ in any age 
since the scriptures were delivered us. — (5.) Much 
less should you lay too much on those which any 
of the more pure and judicious ages were wholly 
ignorant of. — (6.) And least of all, should you lay 
too much on any point which no one age since the 
apostles ever received. 

He who shall live to that happy time when God 
will heal his broken churches, shall see all this 
that I am now pleading for, reduced to practice. 
Then this moderation will take place, and also 
scripture-sufficiency, and all men's confessions and 
comments be valued only as subservient helps, 
and not be made the test of church-communion, 
any further than they are exactly the same with 
scripture. And till the healing age come, we can- 
not expect that healing truths will be entertained, 
because there are not healing spirits in the leaders 
of the church. But when the work is to be done 
the workmen will be fitted for it, and blessed will 
be the agents of so glorious a work. 

But because the love of unity and truth, peace 
and purity, must be conjunctly manifested, we 
must avoid the extremes both in doctrines and com- 
munion. The extremes in doctrine are on one 
side by innovating additions, and on the other by 



Clutp. 1).] . REFORMED FAST0R. 281, 



envying and hindering the progress of the light.- 
(1.) By making new points of faith or duty. — 
(2.) By making those points to be fundamental, or 
necessary to salvation, that are not so. 

The other extreme about doctrine is, by hin- 
dering the progress of knowledge ; and this is 
commonly on pretence of avoiding the innovating 
extreme. It must be considered therefore; how 
far we may grow, and not be culpable innovaters. — 
(1.) Our knowledge must increase extensively ad 
plura. We mustknow more truths than we knew 
before, though we may not feign more. There 
is much of scripture that will remain unknown to 
us when we have done our best. Though we 
shall find out no more articles of faith which must 
be explicitly believed by all who will be saved, 
yet we may find out the sense of more particular 
texts, and set eral doctrinal truths, not contrary to 
the former, but such as befriend them and are 
connected with them. And we may find out more 
the order of truths, and how they are placed in 
respect to one another ; and so see more of the 
true method of theology than we did, which will 
give us a very great light into the maiter itself, 
and its ramifications and consequences. — (2.) Our 
knowledge also must grow subjectively, intensive- 
ly, and in the manner as well as in the matter of 
it. And this is our principal growth : To know 
the same great and necessary truths with a sounder 

Aa2 



2 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 5, 

and clearer knowledge than we did. This is done 
by getting strong evidence and reasons instead of 
the weak ones which we trusted to before : (for 
many young persons receive truths on uncertain 
grounds) by multiplying our evidence and reasons 
for the same truth : by a clearer and deeper ap- 
prehension of the same evidence and reasons which 
before we had but superficially received ; for one 
who is strong in knowledge sees the same truth 
as in the noon- day light, which the weak see but 
as in the twilight. To all this must be added the 
more full improvement of the truth received to its 
intended and proper end. 

I shall give you the sum of my meaning in the 
words of that great enemy of innovation, Vincent. 
" But some one perhaps may say, * Is there then no 
progress to be attained in the church of Christ V 
Truly there is a progress in religion to be attained, 
and that a very great one ; for who would be so 
envious to man, and hateful to God, as to endeavour 
to hinder it ? Yet let it be really a progress in faith, 
not an innovation ; since it belongs to perfection that 
every thing should be increased in itself : but when 
some thing is changed from one to another, again and 
again, it tends to innovation. Therefore there should 
be an increase, and a great and eager proficiency, 
both of individuals and of all, as well of one man 
as of the whole church, during life, and in all ages, 
in the degree of knowledge, science, and wisdom : 



CllClp. 5.] REFORMED PASTOR. 2$3 

but it should be only in the same kind, the same 
tenets, the same sense, and the same judgment." 
And he speaks more plainly and briefly when he 
says, " For it is right that those ancient tenets of 
heavenly philosophy should be extended, polished, 
and dressed, in process of time : but by no means 
be changed. They may receive evidence, light, 
and precision : but it is necessary that they retain 
their fulness, integrity, and propriety." Let this 
mean then be observed, if we would practise both 
truth and peace. 

Having said thus much of the means, I return to 
the end of this exhortation ; beseeching all the min* 
isters of Christ to compassionate the poor divided 
church, and to entertain such catholic principles 
and charitable dispositions as tend to their own and 
the common peace. Has any thing in the world 
done more to lose our authority, and unfit us for 
God's service, than our differences and divisions % 
If N ministers could but be all of a mind, or at least 
concur in the substance of the work, so that the 
people who hear one, might, ass it were, hear all, 
and not have any of us to head a party for the dis- 
contented to fall into, or to object against the rest ; 
we might then do wonders for the church of Christ. 
But if our tongues and hearts be divided, what won- 
der if ?ur work be spoiled, and prove more like a 
Babel than a temple of God! Get together there- 
fore speedily, consult for peace, do not cherish 



Ott 



84 KEF0RMED PASTOR. [Chap* 3, 

heart-burnings, and continue not uncharitable dis- 
tances and strangeness. If dividing have weaken- 
ed you, closing must recover your authority and 
strength. If you have any dislike to your brethren 
or their ways, manifest it by a free debate to their 
faces, but do not unnecessarily withdraw from them. 
If you will but keep together, you may come to a 
better understanding of each other. Especially 
quarrel not upon points of precedency, or reputa- 
tion, or any interest of your own. No man will 
have settled peace in his mind, nor be peaceable in 
his place, who proudly envies the precedency of 
others, and secretly grudges at those who seem to 
cloud his parts and name. One or other will ever 
be an eye-sore to such. There is too much of the 
devil's image in this sin for an humble servant of 
Christ to entertain. 

Moreover : Be not too sensible of injuries ; and 
make not a great matter of every offensive word or 
deed. At least, do not let it interrupt your con> 
munion and concord in God's work : that were to 
wrong Christ and his church, because anoiher has 
wronged you . If you be of this impatient humour, 
you will never be quiet ; for we are all faulty, and 
cannot live together without trying one another. 
Proud, over-tender men, are often hurt by their 
own conceits. They frequently think a man jeers 
theta, and contemns them, or means them ill, when 
it never came into his thoughts. Till this self be 



CIlCip. 5.] REFORMED PASTOR. 285 

taken down, we shall every man have a private 
interest, and of his own, which will lead us all into 
several ways, and spoil the peace and welfare of 
the church. While every man is for himself and 
his own reputation, and all mind their own things, 
no wonder if they mind not the things of Christ. 

VII. JSTo longer neglect the execution of so much 
discipline in your congregations as is confessedly 
necessary and right. I desire not to spur on any 
one to an unseasonable performance of the greatest 
duty. But will it never he a tit season ? \yould 
you forbear sermons and sacraments so many years 
on pretence of their being unseasonable ? Will 
you have a better season for it when you are dead ? 
How many have died before they did any thing in 
this work, who were long preparing for it ! It is 
near three years since many of us now present en- 
gaged ourselves to this duty ; and have we been 
faithful in the performance of that engagement ? 
I know some have more discouragements and hin- 
drances than others : but what discouragements, 
can excuse us from such a duty ? Besides the rea- 
sons that we then considered, let these few be fur- 
ther laid to heart. 

1. How sad a sign do we make it to be in our 
preaching to our people, to live in the wilful con- 
tinued omission of any known duty 1 And shall we 
do so year after year, yea all our days ? If excuses 



2$6' Heformed pastoh. [Chap, 5* 

*will take away the danger of this sign, what, man 
will not find them as well as you ? Amesius says, 
<c Yea, he. sins against Christ, the author and insti- 
tutor of it, whoever does not all that in him lies to 
establish and promote this discipline in the church- 
es of God." And do you think it safe to live and 
die in such a known sin ? 

2. We manifest laziness and sloth, if not un- 
faithfulness, in the work of Christ. I speak from 
experience. It was laziness that kept me off so 
long, and pleaded hard against this duty. It is in- 
deed a troublesome and painful work, and such as 
calls for some self-denial, because it will expose 
us to the displeasure of the wicked. But dare we 
prefer our ease and quietness, and the love or 
peace of wicked men, before our service to Christ 
our Master ? Can slothful servants look for a 
good reward ? 

Remember, brethren, that we of this county 
have thus promised before God in the second ar- 
ticle of our agreement : "We agree and resolve, 
by God's help, that, so far as God makes knewn 
cut duty to us, we will faithfully endeavour to dis- 
charge it ) and will not desist through any fears or 
losses in our estates, or the frowns and displeasure 
of men, or any other carnal inducement whatever.*' 
I pray you study this promise, and compare your 
performance with it : and do not think that you 
were ensnared by thus engaging ; for God's law 



K\ap. 5.] REFORMED PASTOR. 257 

laid an obligation on you to the whole of this duty 
before your engagement did it. Here is nothing 
but what others are bound to as well as you. 

3. The neglect of discipline has a strong ten* 
dency to delude souls, by making those think they 
are christians who are not ; being permitted to live 
in the reputation of such, and not separated from 
the rest by God's ordinance ; it also has a tenden- 
cy to make the scandalous think lightly of their 
sin, seeing that it is tolerated by the pastors of the 
church. 

4. Wo corrupt Christianity itself in the eyes of 
the world, and do our part to make them believe 
that to be a christian is but to be of such an opin- 
ion, to have that faith which James says the devils 
have, and to be solifidians ; and that Christ is no 
more for holiness than Satan, or that the christian 
religion exacts holiness no more than the false re-* 
.]igk>ns of the world : for if the holy and unholy 
are all permitted to be sheep of the same fold, 
without the use of Christ's means to distinguish 
them, we do our part to defame Christ thereby, a» 
if he were guilty of it, and as if this were the strain 
of his prescripts. 

5. We keep up separation, by permitting the 
worst to remain uncen3ured in our churches, so 
that rtiany honest christians think they are necessi- 
tated to withdraw* 



288 reformed pastor. [Chap, b, 

6. By the neglect of proper discipline we do 
much to bring the wrath of God upon ourselves 
and our congregations, and thereby to blast the 
fruit of our labours. If the angel of the church 
of Thyatira was reproved for suffering seducers in 
the church, we may be reproved on the same 
ground, for suffering open, scandalous, impenitent 
sinners. 

VII L Faithfully discharge the great duty which 
you have undertaken, and which is the occasion of 
our meeting here to-day, in personally catechizing 
and instructing every one in your parishes that will 
submit thereto. What our undertaking is you know, 
you have considered it, and it is now published to 
the world. But what the performance will be I 
know not : but I have many reasons to hope well 
of the most, though some will always be more 
ready to say than to do. And because this is the 
chief business of the day, I must beg leave to in- 
sist the longer on it. — (1.) I shall give you some 
further motives to persuade you to faithfulness in 
the work which you have undertaken, pre-suppo- 
sing the former general motives which should ex- 
cite us to this as well as to any other part of our 
duty. — (2.) I shall give to the younger of my breth- 
ren a few words of advice respecting the manner 
in which it should be performed. 



Chap, 6.] RE FORMED PASTOR. c 2q9 

CHAP. VI. 

JReasons for this work. From the benefits — The great 
cause we have to expect abundant success if it be faith- 
fully managed. From the difficulty of this work. From 
the necessity of it — What couse of humiliation we have, 
that we have so long- neglected this work — An exhor- 
tation to the faithful performance of it — With aggra- 
vations of our sin, and witnesses which will condemn 
the wilful neglecters of such great and plain duties a? 
private instruction and discipline are — The objections 
of indolent aud unfaithful ministers answered. 

THE first reasons by which I shall persuade 
you to this duty are taken from the benefits of it; 
the second from the difficulty : and the third from 
the necessity, and the many obligations that are 
upon us for the performance of it : imd to these 
three heads I shall reduce them all. 

I. When I look forward, and consider what, 

through the blessing of God, this work, if well 

managed, is likely to produce, it makes my heart 

leap for joy. Truly, brethren, you have begun a 

most blessed work ; such as your own consciences 

may rejoice in, your parishes rejoice in, the nation 

rejoice in, and children yet unborn : yea, thousands, 
and millions, for ought we know, may have cause to 

bless God for it, when we have finished our course. 

,And though it be our business here to humble our- 

b b 



290 REFORMED PASTOR. [CJiap. fcL 

selves for the neglect of it so long, as we have very 
great cause to do ; jet the hopes of a blessed suc- 
cess are so gFeat in me, that they are ready to turn 
it into a day of rejoicing. I bless the Lord that I 
have lived to see such a day as this, and to be 
present at so solemn an engagement of so many 
servants of Christ to such a work. I bless the 
Lord who has honoured you of this county to 
be the beginners and awakeners of the nation here- 
unto. It is not a controverted business, where the 
exasperated minds of divided men might pick quar- 
rels with us, or malice itself be able to invent a 
rational reproach ; nor is it a new invention, where 
envy might charge you as innovators, or proud 
boasters of any new discoveries of your own, or 
scorn to follow in it because you have led the w r ay. 
No : it is a well-known duty. It is but the more 
diligent and effectual management of the ministerial 
work ; the teaching of our principles, and the feed- 
ing of babes with milk. You lead indeed, but not 
in invention of novelty, but the restoration of the 
ancient ministerial work, and the self-denying at- 
tempt of a duty that few or none can contradict. — 
Unless men envy you, your labours and your suf- 
ferings, or unless they envy the saving of men's 
souls, I know not what they can envy you for in, 
this. The age is so quarrelsome, that where there 
is any matter to fasten on, we can scarcely explain 



Chap. 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 291 

a truth, or perform a duty, but one or other, if not 
many, will have a stone to cast at us, and will 
speak evil of the things which they do not under- 
stand, or which their hearts, and interests are 
against. But here I think we have silenced malice 
itself, and I hope may do. this part of God's work 
quietty. If they cannot endure to be told what 
they know not, or contradicted in what they think, 
or confounded by discovery of what they have said 
amiss, I hope they will give us leave to do that 
w r hich no man can contradict, and to practise that 
w r hich all are agreed in. I hope we may have 
their good leave, or silent patience at least, to deny 
the ease and pleasure of our flesh, and to set our- 
selves in good earnest to help men to heaven, and 
to propagate the knowledge of Christ with our peo- 
ple. And I take it for a sign of a great and neces- 
sary work, that it has such universal approbation ; 
the commonly acknowledged truths and duties be- 
ing, for the most part, of greatest necessity and mo- 
ment. It is a more noble work faithfully to prac- 
tise the truths and duties that all men confess, than 
to make new ones, or discover more than others 
have discovered. I know T not why we should be 
ambitious of hading out new ways to heaven : to 
make plain, and to w r alk in the old way, is our work 
and our greatest honour. 

Because the work in hand is so pregnant with 
great advantages to the church, I will come down 



292 REFORMED PASTOR. [Cliap. 6\ 

to the particular benefits which we may hope for, 
that when you see the excellence of it, you maybe 
the more set upon it, and loth by any negligence or 
failing to destroy or frustrate it. For certainly he 
who has the true views of a minister will rejoice in 
the appearances of any further hopes of attaining 
his end ; and nothing can be more welcome to him 
than that which will further the very business of 
his life: and that our present work is such, I shall 
shew you more particularly. 

1. It is the most likely mean for promoting the con- 
version of many souls ; for it has a concurrence of 
those great things which must further such a work. 
— (1.) For the matter of it : it is about the most 
needful things, the principles and essentials of the 
christain faith. — (2.) For the manner of exercise : 
it will be by private conference, where we may 
have opportunity to set all home to the heart. — • 
(3.) The common concord of ministers will do 
much to bow their hearts to a consent. Were it 
but a meeting to resolve some controverted ques- 
tions, it would not have »o direct a tendency to con- 
version. Were it but occasional, we could not 
handsomely fall on them so closely ; but when we 
make it the appointed business, it will be expected, 
and not so strangely taken. And if most ministers 
had singly set upon this work, perhaps but few of 
the people would have submitted ; and then ycm 



Chap. 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 293 

might have lost your chief opportunities, and those 
that most needed your help, would have had least 
of it. Whereas now we may hope that when it 
is a general thing, few will refuse it ; and when 
they see that other neighbours do it, they will be 
ashamed to be so singular or openly ungodly as 
to deny. 

The work of conversion consists of two parts. — 
(1 ) The well informing of the judgment in ne- 
cessary points. — (2.) The change of the will by 
the efficacy of this truth. Now in this work we 
have the most excellent advantage for both. For 
the informing of their understandings, it must 
needs be an excellent help to have the sum of all 
Christianity still in memory ; and though bare 
words, not understood, will make no change ; yet 
when the words are plain, he who has the words 
is far more likely to know the meaning and matter 
than another ; for what have we to make things 
known by, that are themselves invisible, b«t 
words and other subservient signs ? Those there- 
fore who will deride all catechisms and profes- 
sions, as unprofitable forms, had better deride 
themselves for talking and using the form of their 
own words to make known their minds to others ; 
and they may deride all God's w r ord on the same 
account, which is a standing form for the guiding 

of preachers, and teaching all others the doctrine 

b b 2 



294 REFORMED F'ASTOE. [Chap. 6, 

of eternal life. Why may not written words, that 
are still before their eyes, and in their memories, 
instruct them, as well as the transient words of a 
preacher ? These forms, therefore, of whole- 
some words are so far from being unprofitable, 
as some fantastical persons imagine, that they are 
of admirable use to all. 

We shall have the opportunity by personal con- 
ference to try them, how far they understand it* 
and also to explain it to them as we go ; and to 
chuse out and insist on those particulars which 
the persons that we speak to have most need to 
hear. So that these two conjunct, a form of words 
with a plain explication, may do more than either 
of them could do alone. 

Moreover : We have the best opportunity to 
imprint the same truths on their hearts, when we 
can speak to each one's particular necessity, and 
say to the sinner, " Thou art the man ;' ? plainly 
mention his particular case, and set home the truth 
with familiar importunity. If any thing be likely 
to do them good it is this. They will understand 
a familiar speech who hear a sermon as if it were 
nonsense, and they have far greater help for the 
application of it to themselves. You will also 
hear their objections, and know where it is that 
Satan has most advantage over them, and what it 
is that stands up against the truth ; and so may r be 
able to shew them their errors, confute their ob» 



iilOJ). G.J REFORMED TASTOH. 295 

jections, and more effectually convince them. We 
can better drive them to a stand, and urge them 
<o discover their resolutions, for the future, and 
to promise the use of means and reformation, than 
otherwise we could do. What need we more for 
this than our experience? I seldom deal with 
men purposely on this great business, in private, 
serious conference, but they go away with some 
seeming convictions and promises of new obe- 
dience, if not some deeper remorse and sense of 
their condition ; and I hope your own experiences 
are the same. 

O, brethren, what a blow may we give the king* 
dom of darkness by the faithful and skilful man- 
aging of this work ! If then the saving of souls, of 
your neighbours' souls, of many souls, from ever- 
lasting misery, be worth your labour, up and be 
doing ! If the increase of the true church of 
Christ be desirable, this work is excellent which 
is so likely to promote it. If you would be the 
fathers of many that shall be new-born to God, 
tvould see the travail of your souls, with eomfort, 
and w 7 ould be able to say at last, " Here am I and 
tiie children that thou hast given me ;" up then 
and ply this blessed work. If it will do you good 
to see your holy converts among the saints ia 
glory, praising the Lamb before his throne ; if you 
will be glad to present them blameless and spot- 
less to Christ ; be glad then of this singular oppor- 



296 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 6. 

tunity that is offered you. If you be ministers of 
Christ indeed, you will long for the perfecting of 
his body, and the gathering in of his elect ; and 
your hearts will be set upon it, and you will tra- 
vail as in birth for them till Christ be formed in 
them. Then you will consider such opportunities 
as your harvest-time, and as sun-shine days in a 
rainy harvest, in which it is unreasonable and inex- 
cusable to be idle. If you have any spark of 
christian compassion in you, it will surely seem 
worth your utmost labour to save so many souls 
from death, and to cover so great a multitude of 
sins. If you are indeed co-workers with Christ, 
set then to his work, and neglect not the souls for 
whom he died. O remember when you are talk- 
ing with the unconverted, that now there is an 
opportunity in your hands to save a soul, to re- 
joice the angels of heaven, and to rejoice Christ 
himself ; and that your work is to cast out Satan 
out of a sinner, and to increase the family of God. 
What is your own hope, or joy, or crown of re- 
joicing ? Is it not your saved people in the pres- 
ence of Christ Jesus at his coming ? Yea, doubt- 
less, they are your glory and your joy. 

2. It will be the orderly building up of those 
who are converted, and their establishment in the 
faith. It hazards the whole work, or at least hin- 
ders it, when we do it not in the order in which 
it must be done. How can you build if you d$ 



Vhap. 6. J RtiORMLD fastoh. 



007 



not iir^t lav a good foundation ; or how can yon 
set on the top stone while the middle parts are 
neglected ! Gratia non facit saltum, any more 
than nature. The second order of christian 
truths have such dependance upon the first, that 
they can never be well learned till the first are 
learned. This makes so many deluded novices, 
that are puffed up with the vain conceit of knowl- 
edge, while they are grossly ignorant, and itch to 
be preaching before they well know what it is 
to be christians ; because they took not the w r ork 
before them, but learned some less matters, which 
they heard most talked of, before they learned the 
vital principles. This makes many labour so much 
in vain, and still learning, but never come to the 
knowledge of the truth, because they would learn 
to read before they learn to spell, or to know their 
letters ; and this causes so many to fall away, and 
to be easily shaken with every wind of temptation, 
because thev were not well settled in the funda- 
mentals. It is these fundamentals that must lead 
men to further truths : it is these they must build 
all upon. It is these that they must live upon, 
and that must actuate all their graces, and animate 
all their duties ; it is these that must fortify them 
against particular temptations. He who knows 
these well, knows as much as will make him hap- 
py ; he who knows not these, knows nothing ; and 
he who knows these best, is the best and most \m-- 



298 REFORMED pastor. [Chap. 6. 

derstanding christian. The most godly people 
therefore in your congregations will find it worth 
their labour to learn the very words of a cate- 
chism : and if you would • safely edify them, and 
firmly establish them, be diligent in this work. 

3. It will make our public preaching to be better 
understood and regarded. When you have ac- 
quainted them with the principles they will the 
better understand all that you say. They will 
perceive what you aim at when they are once 
acquainted with the main parts. This prepares 
their minds, and opens you a way to their hearts ; 
when, without this, you may lose the most of your 
labour ; and the more pains you take in accurate 
preparations, the less good you do. As you would 
not therefore lose your public labour, see that you 
be faithful in this private work. 

4. You will come to be familiar with your peo- 
ple when you have had the opportunity of famil- 
iar conversation ; and the want of this, with us who 
l*ave very numerous parishes, is a great impedi- 
ment to the success of our labours. By distance, 
and our being unacquainted with them, slanderers 
and deceivers have opportunity to possess them 
with false conceits of you, which prejudice their 
minds against your doctrine ; and by this distance 
and strangeness between ministers and people 
abundance of mistakes are fomented. Besides 



Chap. 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 299 

that, familiarity itself tends to beget those affec- 
tions which open their ears to further teaching ; 
and when we are familiar with them they are more 
encouraged to open their doubts, seek resolution, 
and deal freely with us. But whe-n a minister 
knows not his people, or is as strange with them 
as if he did not know them, it must be a great hin~ 
derance to his doing them any good. 

5. By these private instructions we shall come 
to be the better acquainted with each person's 
spiritual state, and so the better know how to 
watch over them, and carrv ourselves towards them 
ever after. We shall know the better how to 
preach to them, when we know their temper, their 
chief objections, and what they have most need to 
hear. We shall know better wherein to be jealous 
of them with a pious jealousy, and what tempta- 
tions to help them most against. We shall knov? 
better how to lament for them, to rejoice with them, 
and to pray for them to God. For as he who prays 
heartily for himself will know his own sores and 
wants, and the diseases of his own heart ; so he 
who prays heartily for others, should know theirs 
as far as is meet. If a man have the charge of but 
sheep or cattle, he cannot so well discharge his 
trust, if he do not know them, and their state and 
qualities. So it is with the master who will well 
teach his scholars, and parents who will rightly 



300 REFORMED PASTOH. [Chap. G, 

educate their children ; and so with ministers who 
properly feed the church. of God.* 

6. This acquaintance with our people's state 
will better satisfy us in the administration of the 
sacraments. We shall the better understand how 
far they are fit or unfit. Though this give them 
not the state or relation of a member of that church 
of which we are overseers ; yet because the mem- 
bers of the church universal, though of no particu- 
lar church, may, in some cases, have a right to 
the ordinances of Christ in those particular church- 

* " Ouranius is a holy priest, full of the spirit of the 
gospel, watching, labouring, and praying for a poor coun- 
try village. Every soul in it is as dear to him as himself, 
and he loves them all as he loves himself, because he 
prays for them all as often as he prays for himself. If his 
whole life be one continued exercise of great zeal and 
Jabour, hardly ever satisfied with any degree of care and 
watchfulness, it is because he has learned the great value 
of souls, by so often appearing before God as their inter- 
cessor for them. He goes about his parish, and visits 
every body in it ; but visits in the same spirit of piety 
that he preaches to them. He visits them to encourage 
their virtues, to assist them with his advice and counsel, 
to discover their manner of life, and to know the state of 
their souls, that he may intercede with God for them ac- 
cording to their particular necessities. 

" When Ouranius first entered into holy orders, he had 
a haughtiness in his temper, a great contempt and disre- 
gard for all foolish and unreasonable people ; but he has 
prayed away this spirit, and has now the greatest tender- 
ness of obstinate sinners, because he is always hoping 



Chap. 6] REFORMED PASTOR. 301 

es where they come, and in some cases they have 
no right, we shall by this means therefore be the 
better informed how to deal with them, though 
they be no members of that particular church. — 
And whereas many will question a minister who 
examines his people in order to the Lord's supper, 
by what authority he does it, the same work will 
be done this way, in a manner beyond exception. 
Though I doubt not but a minister may require his 
ilock to come to him at any convenient season, to 
give an account of their faith and proficiency, and 

that God will, sooner or later, bear those prayers lhat he 
makes for their repentance. The rudeness, iil-nature, or 
perverse behaviour of any of his flock, used first to be- 
tray him into impatience ; but now it raises no ether pas* 
sion in him than a desire to be upon his knees in prayer 
to God for them. Thus have his prayers for others altered 
and amended his own heart. It would strangely delight 
you to see with what spirit he converses, with what ten- 
derness he reproves, with what affection he exhorts and 
preaches to those for whom he first prayed to God. This 
devotion softens his heart, enlightens his mind, sweetens 
his temper, and makes every thing that comes from him 
instructive, amiable, and affecting. He thinks the poor- 
est creatures in his parish good enough and great enough 
to deserve the humblest attendances, the kindest friend- 
ships, the tenderest offices he can shew them. He pre- 
sents every one of them so often before God in his prayers, 
that he never thinks he can esteem, reverence, and serve 
those enough, for whom he implores so many mercies 
from God. " Law's Serious Call to a Holy Life. 

c c 



302 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chdp. G, 

to receive instruction, and therefore he may do it 
in preparation to the sacrament ; yet, because 
ministers have laid the stress of that examination 
upon the mere necessity of their being prepared 
for that ordinance, and not upon their common 
duty to see the state and proficiency of each mem- 
ber of their flock at all proper seasons, and upoa 
the people's duty to submit to the guidance and in- 
struction of the pastors at all times, they have 
therefore occasioned people ignorantly to quarrel 
against their examinations, and to call for the proof. 
Whereas it is an easy thing to prove that any 
scholar in Christ's school is bound at any time to 
be accountable to his teachers, and to obey them 
in all lawful things, in order to their own edifica- 
tion and salvation ; though it may be more difficult 
to prove a necessity that a minister must so exam- 
ine them in order to the Lord's supper, any more 
than in order to a day of thanksgiving, or the Lord's 
day, or the baptizing of their children. Now by 
this course we shall discern their fitness in an un- 
questionable way. 

7. It will inform men better of the true nature 
of the ministerial office, and awaken them to a more 
serious consideration of it than is now usual. It is 
now too common for men to think that the work of 
the ministry is nothing but to preach well, to bap- 
tize, administer the Lord's supper, and visit the 
sick. On this account, the people will submit to 



Chap. 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 30-3 

no more ; and too many ministers are negligently 
or wilfully such strangers to their own calling, that 
they will do no more. It has often grieved my 
heart to observe how little some eminent and able 
preachers do for the saving of souls, except in the 
pulpit ; and to how little purpose much of their 
labour is in consequence of this neglect. They 
have hundreds of people to whom they never spoke 
a word personally for their salvation ; and if we 
may judge by their practice, they do not think it 
their duty : and the principal thing that hardens 
men in this oversight, is the common neglect of the 
private part of the work by others. There are so 
few who do much in it, and the omission is grown so 
common among pious and able men, that they have 
abated the disgrace of it by their parts ; so that a 
man may now be guilty of it, without any common 
observance or dishonour. Never does sin so reign 
in a church or state as when it has gained reputa- 
tion, or at least is no disgrace to the sinner, nor a 
matte of any offence to beholders. But I make 
no doubt, through the mercy of God, but the re* 
stored practice of personal oversight will convince 
many ministers that this is as truly their work as 
that which they now do, and will awaken them to 
see that the ministry is another kind of business 
than too many excellent preachers take it to be. 

Brethren, do but set yourselves closely to this 
work, and follow on diligently ; and though you da 



304 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. & 

it silently, without any words to those who are neg- 
ligent, I am in hope that most of you here may 
live to see the day that the neglect of private per- 
sonal oversight of all the flock shall be taken for a 
scandalous and odious omission, and shall be as dis- 
graceful to them who are guilty of it as preaching 
but once a day was heretofore, A school-master 
must not only read a common lecture, but take a 
personal account of his scholars, or else he is like- 
ly to do little good. If physicians were only to 
read a public lecture on physic, their patients 
would not be much the better for them ; nor would 
a lawyer secure your estate by reading a lecture 
on law. The charge of a pastor requires personal 
dealings as well as any of these. Let us shew the 
world this by our practice ; for most men are 
grown regardless of bare words. 

8. It will help our people to understand better 
the nature of their duty towards their overseers^ 
and consequently to discharge it better. This 
were no matter if it were only for our sakes ; but 
their own salvation is very much concerned in it* 
I am confident, by sad experience, that it is none 
of the least impediments to their happiness, and to 
a true and more general reformation of the church, 
that the people do not understand the work and 
power of ministers, nor their own duty towards 
them. They commonly think that a minister has 
no more to do with them, but to preach to them> 



Chop. 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 305 

visit them in sickness, and administer sacraments ; 
and that if they hear him, and receive the sacra- 
ment from him, they owe no further obedience, 
nor can he require any more at their hands. Lit- 
tle do they know that the minister is in the church, 
as the schoolmaster in his school, to teach and take 
an account of every one in particular, and that all 
christians must be disciples or scholars in some 
such school. They do not think that a minister is 
in the church as a physician in a town, for all peo- 
ple to resort to for personal advice for the curing 
of all those diseases that are fit to be brought to a 
physician ; and that the priest's lips must pre- 
serve knowledge, and the people must ask the law 
at his mouth, because he is the messenger of the 
Lord of Hosts : and that every soul in the congre- 
gation is bound, for their own safet} f , to have per- 
sonal recourse to him, for 4he resolving of their 
doubts, for l^eip against their sins, for direction in 
duty, and for increase of knowledge and all saving 
grace ; and that ministers are purposely settled in 
congregations to this end, to be still ready to advise 
and help the flock. If our people did but know 
their duty, they would readily come to us to be in- 
structed when they are desired, and to give an ac- 
count of their knowledge, faith and lives ; yea, they 
would come themselves, without sending for, and 
knock more frequently at our doors, and call for 
advice and help for their souls, and ask. ' What 

c c £ 



306 reformed pastor. [Chap. 6. 

shall we do to be saved V Whereas now the 
matter is come to such a pass, that they think a 
minister has nothing to do with them ; and if he 
admonish them, they will bid him look to himself— 
he shall not answer for them. If he call them to 
be catechized or instructed, to prepare for the 
Lord's supper or other holy ordinances, or would 
take an account of their faith and profiting, they 
will ask him by what authority he does these 
things ; and think he is a busy, pragmatical fellow, 
who loves to be meddling where he has nothing to 
do ; or a proud fellow, who would bear rule over 
their consciences. When they might as well ask 
him by what authority he preaches, prays for 
them, or gives them the sacrament. Or they 
might as well ask a schoolmaster by what authority 
he calls his scholars to learn or say their lesson, 
or a physician by what authority he enjoins them 
to take his medicines. People do not consider that 
all our authority is for our work, even a power 
to our duty, and our work is for them ; so that it is 
but an authority to do them good. Hence they 
talk no wiser than if they were to quarrel with a 
man for helping to quench the fire in their thatch, 
and ask him by what authority he did it : or that 
would give his money to relieve the poor, and they 
should asfc him, by what authority do you require 
us to take this money ; or that had offered his hand 
to one that had fallen to help him up, or to one in 



CJlCip. G.] REFORMED PASTOR. 307 

the water to save him from drowning, and he should 
ask by what authority he did so. Truly we often 
have no wiser Dor more thankful dealing from these 
men ; and yet we are doubly obliged, both by 
christian charity and the ministerial office, to do 
them all the good we can. I know not of any 
simile that more aptly expresses the ministerial 
power and duty, and the people's duty to their 
ministers, than these two conjunct ; viz. a physi- 
cian in a hospital, who has taken the charge of it, 
and a schoolmaster in his school, especially such 
as the philosophers, or teachers of any science or 
art, whose schools have the aged and voluntary 
members as well as children. Such are ministers 
in the church : such is their w T ork, their authority 
to do it, and the duty of the people to submit there- 
to, allowing such differences as the subject requires. 
What is it that has brought people to this igno- 
rance of their duty but custom ? It is long of us, 
brethren, to speak truly and plainly, it is long of 
us, who have not used them nor ourselves to any 
more than common public work. We see how 
much custom does with people. Where it is the 
custom, they stick not among the papists at con- 
fessing all their sins to the priest ; and because it 
is not the custom among us, they disdain to be pri- 
vately questioned, catechized, or instructed at all. 
They wonder at it as a strange thing, and say, 
' Such things were never done before.' And if we 



308 reformed pastor. [Chap. 6. 

can but prevail to make this duty become as usual 
as other duties, they will much more easily submit 
to it than now. What a happy thing would it be if 
} r ou should live to see the day that it will be as 
common for people of all ages to come in course to 
their teachers for personal advice and help for 
their salvation, as it is now for them to come to the 
church, or to send their children thither to be cat] 
echized. Our diligence in this work is the way 
to promote this. 

9. Our practice will give the governors of" the 
nation some better information about the nature 
and burden of the ministry, and so may procure 
their further assistance. It is a lamentable imped- 
iment to the reformation of the church and saving 
of souls, that in most populous congregations there 
is but one or two men to oversee many thou- 
sand souls ; and so there are not labourers in any 
measure answerable to the work. Hence it be- 
comes an impossible thing to them to do any consid- 
erable part of that personal duty which should be 
done by faithful pastors to all the flock. I have often 
said it, and still must say it, that this is a great part 
of England's misery, and great degree of spiritual 
famine which reigns in most cities and great towns 
through the land, even where they are insensible 
of it, and think themselves well provided. Alas, 
we see multitudes of carnal, ignorant sinners, round 
about us ! Here is a family, and there a family, 



/ 



Chltp. 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 300 

and there almost a whole street or village of 
them. Our hearts pity them — we see that their 
necessities cry aloud for our speedy and diligent re- 
lief, so that he who has ears to hear must needs 
hear it : and if we would ever so gladly, we cannot 
help them ; not only through their obstinac} r , but 
also through our want of opportunity. We have 
experience, that if we could but have leisure to 
speak to them, and plainly to open to them their 
sin and danger, there were great hopes of doing 
good to many of those who receive little by our 
public teaching. But we cannot come at them : 
more necessary work prohibits us. We cannot 
do both at once : and the public must be preferred, 
because there we deal with many at once : and it 
is as much as we are able to do to perform the 
public work, or some little more. If we take the 
time when we should eat or sleep, besides the 
ruining of weakened bodies by it, we shall not be 
able after all to speak to one of vary many of them. 
So that we stand by and see poor people perish, 
and can but be sorry for them-$ not being able so 
much as to speak to them, to endeavour their re- 
covery. Is not this a sad case in a nation that glo- 
ries in the fulness of the gospel ? An infidel will say 
no : but methinks no man who believes everlasting 
joy or torment will say so. I will instance of my 
own case : We are together two ministers, and a 
third at a chapel, willing to bestow every hour of 



310 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 6. 

our time in Christ's work. Before we undertook 
this work that we are now upon our hands were 
full ; and now we are engaged to set apart two 
days every week from morning to night for pri- 
vate catechizing and instruction : so that any man 
may see that we must leave undone all that other 
work which we w^re wont to do at that time ; and 
we are necessitated to run upon the public work of 
preaching with small preparation ; and so must de- 
liver the message of God in such a raw, confused 
manner, and in a way unsuitable to its dignity and 
the necessity of men's souls, that it is a great trou- 
ble to our minds to consider it, and a greater trou- 
ble to us when we are doing it. Yet it must be 
so : there is no remedy. Unless we omit this per- 
sonal instruction, we must needs run thus unpre- 
pared into the pulpit ; and to omit this we dare 
not, it is so great and necessary a work. When 
we have incurred all the fore -mentioned inconve- 
niences, and* have set two whole days every week 
apart for the work that we have now undertaken, 
it will be as much as we shall be able to do to go 
over the parish but once in a year, there being in 
it about eight hundred families ; and what is worse 
than that, we shall be forced to cut it short, and do 
it less effectually than we ought, having above fif- 
teen families to visit in a week ; and alas, how 
small a matter is it to speak to a man once only in 
a year, and that so cursorily ^s we must be forced 



Chap. 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 311 

to do, in comparison of what their necessities re- 
quire ! Yet are we in hope of some fruit of this 
much ; but how much more might it be, if we could 
but speak to them once a quarter, and do the work 
more fully and deliberately, as you who are in 
smaller parishes may do. Many ministers in En- 
gland have ten times, if not more, the number of 
parishioners that I have ; so that if they should 
undertake the work we have done, they can go 
over their parish but once in ten years. Thus 
while we are hoping for opportunities to speak to 
them, we hear of one dying after another ; and, to 
the grief of our souls, are forced to go with them 
to their graves, before we could ever speak a word 
to them personally to prepare them for their 
change. What is the cause of all this misery ? 
Why, our rulers have not seen a necessity of any 
more ministers than one or two in such parishes ; 
and so they have not allowed any maintenance to 
that end. It is easy to separate from the multi- 
tude, gather distinct churches, and let the rest sink 
or swim ; or at least, if they be not saved by pub- 
lic preaching, let them be damned ; but whether 
this be the most charitable and christian course, 
one would think can be no hard question. What 
is the cause that wise and godly rulers should be 
thus guilty of our misery, and that none of our cries 
will awaken them to compassion ? What, are they 
so ignorant as not to know these things ? Are they 



312 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 6* 

grown cruel to the souls of men ; or are they false- 
hearted to the interest of Christ, and have a design 
to undermine his kingdom ? No : I hope it is none 
of these ; but for ought I can find, it is long of 
us, even us ministers of the gospel, whom they 
should thus maintain. For those ministers who 
have small parishes, and might do all this private 
part of the work, yet do it not, except a very few, 
and will not do it : and those in great towns and 
cities, who might do somewhat, though they can- 
not do all, will do just nothing but what accidental- 
ly falls in their way, or next to nothing ; so that 
magistrates are not awakened to observe and con- 
sider the weight of our work. If it be not in their 
eyes, as well as in their ears, they will not regard 
it. Or if they apprehend the usefulness of it, yet 
if they see that ministers are so careless and lazy 
that they w r ill not do it, they think it in vain to r^ro- 
vide them a maintenance for it — it would be but to 
cherish idle droans : and so they think that if they 
maintain ministers enough to preach in the pulpit, 
they have done their part ; and thus are they in- 
volved in heinous sin, of which we are the occa- 
sion. Whereas if we do but heartily all set our- 
selves to this work, and shew the magistrates that 
it is a most weighty and necessary part of our 
business ; that we would do it thoroughly if we 
could ; and that if there were hands enough at it, 
the work would go on : and withal, when they shall 



- . « 



Oiap. 6.] REFORMED TASTOK. 313 

see the happy success of our labours ; then, no 
doubt, if the fear of God be in them, and Ihcy 
have any love to his truth and men's souls, they 
will put to their helping hand, and not let men 
perish because their is no man to speak to them 
to prevent it. They will one way or other raise 
maintenance in such populous places for labourers 
proportioned to the number of souls and greatness 
of the work. Let them but see us fall to the work, 
and see it prosper in our hands ; as, if it be well 
managed, through God's blessing, there is no doubt 
but it will, and then it will draw out their hearts to 
the promoting of it : and instead of laying parish- 
es together, to diminish the number of teachers, 
they will either divide them, or allow more teach- 
ers to a parish. But when they see that many 
carnal ministers make a greater stir to have more 
maintenance to themselves, than to have more 
help in the work of God, they are tempted by 
such wordlings to wrong the church, that partic- 
ular ministers may have ease and fulness. 

10. It may exceedingly facilitate the ministerial 
service to the next generation, and prevent the 
rebellion of people against their teachers. Cus- 
tom swavs with the multitude : and those who first 
break a destructive custom must bear the brunt of 
their indignation. Somebody must do this. If we 
do it not, it will lie upon our successors ; and how 
can we expect that they should be more hardy, 

» d 



314 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 8* 

resolute, and faithful, than we ? We have seen 
the heavy judgments of the Lord, and heard him 
pleading by fire and sword with the land. We 
have been ourselves in the furnace, and should be 
the most refined. We are most deeply obliged by 
oaths and covenants, by wonderful deliverances, 
experiences, and mercies of all sorts ; and if we 
yet flinch, turn our backs, and prove false-hearted, 
why should we expect better from those who have 
not been driven by such scourges, nor drawn by 
such cords. But if they do prove better than we, 
and will do it, the same odium and opposition must 
befal them which we avoid, and that with some in- 
crease, because of our neglect ; for the people 
will tell them that we, their predecessors, did no 
such things. But if we would now break through 
who are set in the front, and break the ice for those 
who follow us, their souls will bless us, our names 
shall be dear to them, and they will feel the happy 
fruits of our labour every week and day of their 
ministry. When the people shall willingly submit 
to their private instructions and examinations, yea y 
and to discipline too, because we have acquainted 
them with it, removed the prejudice, and broke the 
evil custom that those who went before us had 
been the cause of; and so we may do much to the 
saving of many thousand souls in all ages to come, 
as well as in the present age. 

1 1 . We shall keep our people's minds and time 
from much of that vanity that now possesses 



Chap, 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 315 

them. When men are at work, almost all their 
talk is vanity, the children also learn foolish and 
ribbald songs and tales — with such filth and rub- 
bish are their memories furnished — many an hour 
is lost, and many thousands of idle thoughts and 
words are they guilty of. Whereas, when they 
once know that catechisms must be learned, and 
that they must all give account, it will turn much 
of their thoughts and time that way. 

12. It will do much for the better ordering of 
families, and better spending of the Lord's day. 
W T hen we have once got the master of the family 
to undertake to examine his family every Lord's 
day, and hear what they can say of the catechism, 
it will find them the most profitable employment ; 
whereas otherwise many of them would be idle, 
or ill-employed. Many masters who know but 
little themselves may yet be brought to do this for 
others. 

13. It will do good to many ministers who are 
apt to be idle, and mispend their time in unneces- 
sary discourse, business, journies, or recreations ; 
and will let them see that they have no time to 
spare for such things. When they are engaged in 
so much pressing employment of such a high na- 
ture, it will he the best cure for all their idleness 
or loss of time ; and withal, it will cut off that 
scandal which is consequent thereon. The people 
sav, ' Such a minister can sit in an alehouse or 



316 REFORMED PASTOR. \Cliap. 6. 

tavern, or spend his time at bowls or other sports, 
or vain discourse, and why may not we do so V 
Let us all set closely to this part of our work, imd 
then see what time we can find to spare ; yea, let 
us only faithfully employ ourselves in it, and 
live an idle, worldly, or voluptuous life, if we 
can. 

14. Many personal benefits to ourselves are 
consequent on these. It will do much to exercise 
and increase our own graces ; to subdue our own 
corruptions ; and, besides our safety, it will breed 
much peace to our own consciences, and comfort 
us when our time and actions must be review- 
ed. — (1 ) To be much in provoking others to re- 
pentance and heavenly mindedness, may do much 
to excite them in ourselves. — (2.) To cry down 
the sin of others, engage them against it, and di- 
rect them to overcome it, will do much to shame 
us out of our own ; and conscience will scarcely 
suffer us to live in that which we make so much 
ado to draw others from. That very constant em- 
ployment for God, and busying our minds and 
tongues against sin, and for Christ and holiness, 
will do much to habituate us, and to overcome our 
fleshly inclinations, both by direct mortification 
and by diversion, leaving our fancies no room nor 
time for their old employment. I dare say that 
all the austerities of monks and hermits, who ad- 
dict themselves to unprofitable solitude, and are 



Chap. 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 317 

the true imitators of the unprofitable servant who 
hid his talent because his master was an austere 
man, and think to save themselves by neglecting 
to shew compassion on others, will not do near so 
much in the true work of mortification as this fruit- 
ful diligence for Christ. 

15. Bv this means w r e shall take off ourselves 
and our people from vain controversies, and from 
employing our care and zeal upon the lesser mat- 
ters of religion — things which often hinder their 
spiritual edification : for while we are taken up in 
teaching, and they in learning the fundamentals, 
our minds and tongues too will be diverted from 
lower things ; and thus it will cure much wrang- 
ling and contention between ministers and people ; 
for we do that which w r e need not and should not, 
because we will not fall closely to do that w 7 hich 
we need and should. If we could contrive to get 
some of the most understanding and judicious of 
our people to assist us in privately helping others, 
it would be the most effectual way to prevent 
their running into preaching distempers or 
schisms ; for this employment would take them 
up, and content the teaching humour to which 
they are inclined ; and it might make their parts 
more useful in a safe and lawful way. 

16. The very diligent practice of this work that 
we are upon will do much to set men right about 
many controversies that now trouble the church, 

d d 2 



318 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 6\ 

and so to put an end to our differences. Especial- 
ly, most of those about the ministry, churches, 
and discipline, would receive more convincing 
light by practice, than by all our idle talking or 
writing. We have fallen of late into parties, and 
troubled the church about many controversies 
concerning excommunication, in such and such 
cases, which perhaps never will fall out ; or if 
they do, they never can be so well decided by any 
man who is not engaged in the practice. It is like 
the profession of a physician, a soldier, or a pilot, 
who can never be worth a straw at their work, by 
all the precepts in the world, without practice 
and experience. This will be the only course to 
make. — (1.) Sound divines in the main, which 
bare studying will not do. — (2.) Recover us again 
to the primitive simplicity, to live upon the sub- 
stantial, necessary things. — (3.) To direct and 
resolve us in many of our quarrels, which can no 
other way be well resolved. For example : If 
this work had been set on foot, and it had been 
made visible what it is to have the oversight of 
souls, durst any bishops have contended for the 
sole oversight of two hundred, four hundred, or a 
thousand churches ; and that the presbyters might 
be but their curates and informers ? Durst they 
have striven with might and main to draw upon 
themselves such impossibilities, to carry such 
mountains on their backs, and to answer to God 



Chap. 6. J REFORMED PASfOR. 31 

as overseers and pastors of so many thousand peo- 
ple, whose faces they were never likely to see, 
much less were they ever to speak one word to 
them for their everlasting life ? Would not each 
of them rather have said, ' If I must be a bishop, 
let me be a parochial bishop, or have no more tb 
oversee than I am capable of overseeing ; and let 
me be such as the primitive bishops were, who 
had but one church, and not hundreds to take cafe 
of; and let me not be engaged to perform impos- 
sibilities, and that on pain of damnation, and to the 
certain destruction of the business that I under- 
take.' Surely these would rather have been their 
strivings. I do not speak this against any bishops 
who acknowledge the presbyters to be true pas- 
tors to rule and teach the flock, and consider them- 
selves only the chief or presidents among the 
presbyters, yea or the rulers of presbyters who 
are the rulers of the flock ; but of those who 
make null the presbyter's office, and the church's 
government and discipline, by undertaking it alone 
as their sole prerogative. 

Many other controversies pertaining to discipline 
I might instance, which will be better resolved by 
this course of practice, through the abundant ex- 
perience it will afford, than by all the disputations 
or writings that have attempted it. 

17. The design of this work is the reformation 
and salvation of all the people in our several par* 



520 REFORMED PASTOR. [QiOjh.fi. 

ishes ; for we shall not leave out any man who will 
submit to the instructed. And though we can scarce- 
ly hope that every particular person will be re- 
formed and saved by it, yet we have reason to hope, 
that as the attempt is universal, so the success will 
be more general and extensive than w r e have hither- 
to seen our other labours. Sure I am it is most, like 
to the spirit, precept, and offers of the gospel, 
which require us to preach the gospel to every 
creature, and promises life to every man who ac- 
cepts it by believing. If God would have all men 
to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth, 
that is, as Rector and Benefactor of the world, he 
has manifested himself willing to save all men if 
they will themselves ; then surely it becomes us to 
offer salvation to all men, and endeavour to bring 
them to the knowledge of the truth : and if Christ 
tasted death for every man, it is meet we should 
preach his death to every man. This work has a 
more excellent design than our accidental confer- 
ences with now and then a particular person. And 
I observe that m such occasional discourses men 
satisfy themselves to have spoken some good words, 
but seldom set plainly and closely to the matter, 
to convince men of sin, misery, and mercy, as in 
this work we are now more likely to do. 

18. It is likely to be a work that shall spread 
over the whole land, and not stop with us who 
have now engaged in it. For though it be at pre- 



Chap. 6. j REFORMED PASTOR. 321 

sent neglected, I suppose the cause is the same 
with our brethren as it has all this while been with 
us, who by vain expectations of the magistrate's 
interposition, or by that inoonsiderateness and la- 
ziness which we are bewailing here this day, have 
omitted it till now as we have done ; but especial- 
ly, a despair of a common submission of the people 
has been the hinderance. But when they shall be 
reminded of so clear and great a duty, and excited 
to the consideration of it, and see with us the fea 
sibleness of it in a good measure, when it is done 
by common consent, no doubt they will universally 
take it up, and gladly concur with us in so blessed 
a work. For they are the servants of the same 
God, as regardful of their flocks, as conscientious 
as we, as sensible of the interest of Christ, as com- 
passionate to men's souls, and as self-denying and 
ready to do or suffer for such excellent ends. See- 
ing therefore they have the same Spirit, rule, and 
Lord, I will not be so uncharitable as to doubt 
whether all who are godly, or the generality of 
them, will gladly join with us through all the land. 
And O what a happy thing it will be to see such 
a general combination for Christ — to see all En- 
gland seriously called upon and importuned for 
Christ, and set in so fair a way for heaven ! Me- 
thinks the consideration of it should make our 
hearts rejoice within us, to see so many faithful 
servants of Christ all over the land, to fall in with 



322 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 6- 

every particular sinner with such industrious soli- 
citations for the saving of their souls, as men who 
will hardly take a denial. Methinks I see all the 
godly ministers of England setting upon the work 
already, and resolving to take the opportunity, that 
unanimity may facilitate it ; which, if they do, no 
doubt but God will succeed them. Is it not then 
a most happy undertaking that you are all setting 
your hands to, and desiring the assistance of Christ 
in this day ? 

19. Such is the weight and excellence of the 
duty that we are upon, that the chief part of church- 
reformation which is behind, as to means, consists 
in it ; and it must be the chief means to answer 
the judgments, the mercies, the prayers, the prom- 
ises, the cost, the endeavours, and blood of the 
nation : and without this it will not be done ; the 
end of all these will never be well attained ; a re- 
formation to purpose will never be wrought ; the 
church will be still low ; the interest of Christ 
will be much neglected ; and Cod will still have 
a controversy with the land, and above all with 
the ministers, who have been deepest in the guilt. 

How long have we talked of reformation, how 
much have we said and done for it in general, and 
how deeply and devoutly have we vowed it for our 
own parts ; and after all this, how shamefully have 
we neglected it, and do neglect it to this day ! We 
carry ourselves as if we had not known or consid* 



Chap. 6.] REFORMED PASTOR, 323 

ered what that reformation was which we vowed. 
As carnal men will take on them to be christians, 
and profess with confidence to believe in Christ 
and accept of his salvation, and may contend for 
Christ and light for him ; and yet for all this would 
have none of him, but perish for refusing him, who 
little dreamed that ever they had been refusers of 
him ; and all because they understood not what his 
salvation is and how it is carried on ; but dream of 
a salvation without flesh-displeasing, and without 
self-denying, and renouncing tke world, and part- 
ing with their sins, and without any holiness, or 
any great pains and labour of their own in subser- 
viency to Christ and the Spirit : even so did too 
many ministers and private men talk and write, 
and pray, and right, and long for reformation ; and 
would little have believed that man who should 
have presumed to tell them, that for all this their 
very hearts were against reformation ; and that 
those who were praying, fasting, and wading 
through blood for it, would never accept of it, 
but would themselves be the rejecters and de- 
stroyers of it. Yet so it is, and so it has too plainly 
proved ; and whence is all this strange deceit of 
heart, that good men should no better know them- 
selves ? Why, the case is plain : they thought of a 
reformation to be given by God, but not of a rej 
formation to be wrought on and by themselves. 
They considered the blessing, but never thought of 



324 REFORMED PASTOR. [Ckap. 6. 

the means or accomplishing it. As if they had ex- 
pected that all things besides themselves should be 
mended without them ; or that the Holy Ghost 
should again descend miraculously ; or that every 
sermon should convert its thousands ; or that some 
angel from heaven, or some Elias, should be sent 
to restore all things ; or that the law of a parlia- 
ment, and the sword of a magistrate, would have 
converted or constrained all, and have done the 
deed. Little did they think of a reformation that 
must be wrought by their own diligence and un- 
wearied labours, by earnest preaching, catechizing, 
personal instructions, and taking heed to all the 
flock, whatever pains or reproaches it might co$t 
them. They thought not that a thorough reforma- 
tion must multiply their own work. We had all 
of us too carnal thoughts, that when we had un- 
godly men at our mercy all would be done, and 
conquering them was converting them, or such a 
mean as would have frightened them to heaven. 
But the business is far otherwise ; and had we 
then known how a reformation must be attained, 
perhaps some would have been colder in the pros- 
ecution of it. And yet I know that even foreseen 
labours seem small matters at a distance, while we 
do but kear and talk of them ; but when we come 
nearer them, and must put our hands to the work, 
and put on our armour, and charge through the 
thickest of opposing difficulties, then is the sincer- 



Chap. 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 325 

ity and the strength of men's hearts brought to 
trial, and it will appear how they purposed and 
promised before. Reformation is to many of us as 
the Messiah was to the Jews. Before he came 
they looked and longed for him, and boasted of 
him^and rejoiced in hope of him ; but when he 
came, they hated him, would not believe that he 
was indeed the person ; and therefore persecuted 
and put him to death, to the curse and confusion of 
the main body of their nation. " The Lord whom 
we seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even 
the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight 
in ; but who may abide the day of his coming, and 
who shall stand when he appeareth ? For he is 
like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap ; and he 
shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver ; and he 
shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as 
gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an 
offering in righteousness. (Mai*, iii. 1 — 3.) And 
the reason was, because they expected him to come 
in a different manner from that in which he ap- 
peared to them. They looked for one to bring 
them riches and liberty ; and to this day they pro- 
fess that they will never ^lieve in any but such, 
So it is with too many about reformation. They 
hoped for a reformation that should bring them 
more wealth and honour with the people, and 
power to force men to do what they would have 
them j and now they see a reformation that must 

e e 



326 REFORMED PASTOR. [QlCLp. 6. 

put them to more condescension and pains than 
ever they were at before, this will not go down 
with them. They thought to have the opposers 
of godliness under their feet ; but now they see 
they must go to them with humble entreaties, and 
put their hands under their feet, if it would do 
them good ; meekly beseech even those who some- 
times sought their lives ; make it now their daily 
business to overcome them by kindness, and win 
them with love. O how many carnal expectations 
are here crossed ! 

Hence also it is that most men lay so great a 
part of reformation in their private opinions or 
lingular ways. The episcopal party think that the 
true reformation is to restore them to power ; the 
presbyterians, that if episcopacy and independency 
were put down, and classes set up, the work were 
chiefly done ; the independents, that if they had 
gathered a separated body of godly people under 
covenant, much of the reformation were wrought ; 
and the baptists think that if they could but get 
people to be baptized again, they had done a great 
matter for reformation. 1 am not now reproving 
any of these in th/e matter, though the last espe- 
cially well deserve it, but to shew that they lay 
far too much upon their several orders and formal- 
ities. Indeed if we had our will in all these mat- 
ters of order, and had the best form of government 
in the world ; yet it is the painful execution, and 



Cliap. 6\] REFORMED PASTOR. 327 

the diligent and prudent use of means for men's 
conversion and edification, by able, faithful men, 
that must accomplish the reformation. 

Brethren, I dare confidently tell you, that if you 
will but faithfully perform what you have agreed 
upon, both in this business of catechizing and per- 
sonal instruction, and in the matter of discipline 
formerly, where we have well waved all the con- 
troverted part which has so much ascribed to it, 
you will do more for the true reformation, which 
is so desirable, and has been so long prayed and 
hoped for, than all the changes of forms and orders 
so eagerly contended for are ever likely to effect* 
If bishops would do this work, I would take them 
for reformers ; and if presbyterians will do it, I 
will take them for reformers ; and those who neg- 
lected and hindered it, I have always taken for 
deformers. Let us see the work well done that 
God has made so necessary for men's conversion, 
preservation, restoration and salvation, and the 
doers of it, whether prelates or presbyters, shall 
never have any opposition from me. But it is not 
bare canons, orders, names, and shews, that any 
wise man will take for the substance of reforma- 
tion. It is not circumcision or uncircumcision, 
to be a jew or a gentile, bond or free, that availeth 
any thing, but a new creature, and faith that work- 
eth by love. That is the reformation which best 
heals the ignorance, infidelity, pride, hypocrisy, 



328 reformed iMSTOR. [Chap. 6\ 

worldly mindedness, and other killing sins of the 
land, and that most effectually brings men to faith 
and holiness. Not that I would have the least 
truth or duty undervalued, or any part of God's 
will to be rejected : but the kingdom of God con- 
sisteth not in every truth or duty — not in ceremo- 
nies or circumstances, not in meats or drinks ; but 
in righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy 
Ghost. 

Dear brethren, it is you, and such as you, that, 
under Christ, must yet give this nation the fruit of 
all their prayers and pains, their cost and blood, 
and their heavy sufferings. All that they have 
been doing for the good of the church, and for 
true reformation for so many years, was but to 
prepare the way for you to come in and do the 
work which they desired. Alas, what would they 
do by fire and sword, by drums and trumpets, for 
the converting of souls ! The actions of armies 
and famous commanders, which seem so glorious, 
and make so great a noise, that the world rings 
with them, what have they done, or what can they 
do that is worth talking of without you ? In them- 
selves considered, all their victories and great 
achievements are so far from being truly glorious, 
that they are very lamentable ; and a butcher may 
as well glory that he has killed so many beasts, or 
a hangman that he has executed so many men, as 
they can glory in the thing considered in itself, for 



CJiap, 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 3$9 

war is the most heavy temporal judgment : and far 
less cause would they have to glory if their cause 
and end were wrong. If their hearts, end, and 
cause be right, and they mean as honestly as any 
men in the world, yet are these great command- 
ers but your pioneers, to cut up the thorns that 
stand in your way, to cast out the rubbish, and 
prepare you the way to build the house. Alas, 
they cannot with all their victories exalt the Lord 
Jesus in the soul of any sinner ; and therefore they 
cannot set up his spiritual kingdom, for the hearts 
of men are his house and throne. If the work 
should stop with the end of theirs, and go no fur- 
ther than they can carry it, we should be in the 
end but where we were in the beginning ; and 
one generation of Christ's enemies would succeed 
-another, and they who take down the wicked, 
would inherit their vices, as they possess their x 
places, and the last would be far the worst, as 
being deeper in the guilt, and more engaged in 
evil-doing. All this trouble then and stir of the 
nation has been to bring the work to your hands ; 
and shall it die there ? God forbid! They have 
opened you the door ; and, at exceeding cost and 
sufferings, have removed many of your imped- 
iments, and put the building-instruments into your 
hands ; and will you now stand still or loiter ? God 
forbid ! Up then, brethren, and give the nation 
the fiuit of their cost and labour. Frustrate not 

f e 2 



33U REFORMED PASTOR. [fckop. 6. 

the long expectations of so many thousands, who 
have prayed in hope ot a true reformation, paid in 
hope, ventured in hope, suffered in hope, and 
waited till now in hope. In the name of God, take 
heed that you do not disappoint all these hopes ! 
Have they spent so long time in fencing the vine- 
yard, in weeding and pruning it, and making it 
ready for your hands ; and will you now fail those 
who are sent to gather in the vintage, and be the 
cause of their losing all their labours ? When 
they have plowed the field, will you sow it only 
by halves? If they had known beforehand that 
ministers would have proved idle and unfaithful, 
how many hundreds would have spared their 
blood ; how many thousands would have sat still, 
and have let the old readers and formalists alone, 
and have said, c If we must have dull, unprofita- 
ble men, it is as good have one as another : it is 
not worth so much cost and pains to change one 
careless minister for another.' The end is the 
mover and life of the agent in all the means. How 
many thousands have prayed, and paid, and suffer- 
ed ; and more in expectation of a great advantage 
to the church, and more common illumination and 
reformation of the nation by your means ; and 
will you now deceive them all ? Again I say, God 
forbid I It is at your hands that they are now ex- 
pecting the happy issue of all. The eyes of the 
nation are, or should be, all, under God, upon you, 



Chap. 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 331 

for the bringing in the harvest of their cost and 
labours. I profess it makes me wonder at the fear- 
ful deceitfulness of the heart of man, to see how 
every man can call on others for duty, or censure 
them for omitting it ; and what excellent judges we 
are in other men's cases, and how partial in our 
own. 

Brethren, it were a strange mistake, if any of us 
should think that the price of the nation's wealth 
and blood was to settle us in good benefices. Was 
this the reformation intended, that we might live 
in greater ease and fulness ? Why, sirs, what are 
we more than other men, that the people should 
do all this ; that they should impoverish the whole 
nation almost to provide us a livelihood ? What 
can they see in our persons or countenances for 
which they should so dote upon us ? Are we not 
men, frail and corruptible flesh, and unw r orthy 
sinners like themselves ? Surely it was for our 
work, and the end of our work, and not for our 
persons, that they have done all this. What say 
you now, brethren ? Will you deal faithfully with 
your creditors, and pay the nation the debt which 
you owe them ? Shall all the blood and cost of 
this people be frustrated or not ? You are now 
called upon to give your answer, and it is you that 
must give it. The work is now before you ; and 
in these personal instructions of all the flock, as 
well as in public preaching, does it consist, Oth* 



332 reformed pastor. [Chap. 6. 

ers have done their part, and borne their burden, 
and now comes in yours. You may easily see how 
great a matter lies upon your hands, how many 
Will be wronged by your failing, and how much 
will be lost by the sparing of your labour. If 
your labour be more worth than all our treasures, 
hazards, and lives — more worth than the souls of 
men and the blood of Christ ; then sit still, and 
look not after the ignorant or the ungodly ; follow 
your pleasure and worldly business, or take your 
ease ; displease not sinners, nor your own flesh ; 
but let your neighbours sink or swim ; and if pub- 
lic preaching will not save them, let them per- 
ish. But if the case be far otherwise, you had 
best look about you. I shall say more of this by 
and by. 

II. Having given you the first sort of reasons, 
which were drawn from the benefits of the pres- 
ent work, I come to the second sort, which are 
taken from the difficulties; which, if they were 
alone, or in a needless business, I confess might 
be rather discouragements than motives : but tak- 
ing these with those that go before and follow, 
the case is otherwise ; for difficulties must excite 
to greater diligence in a necessary and important 
work. 

We shall find many difficulties both in ourselves 
and in our people ; which, because they are things 



Chap, 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 333 

so obvious, that your experience will leave no 
room for doubt, 1 shall pass them over in a few 
words. 

1. In ourselves there is much dullness and lazi- 
ness, so that there will be much ado to get us to 
be faithful in the work. Like a sluggard in bed, 
who knows he should rise, and yet delays and 
would stay as long as he can ; so do we by duties 
that our corrupt nature is against, and puts us to 
the use of all our powers. Mere sloth ties the 
hands of many. 

2. We have a base, man-pleasing temper, which 
makes us let men perish rather than lose their 
love ; and let them go quietly to hell, lest we 
should make them angry with us for seeking their 
salvation. We are ready to venture on the dis- 
pleasure of God, and suffer our people to run into 
everlasting misery, rather than get ill-will to our- 
selves. This disposition must be diligently re- 
sisted. 

3. Some of us have a foolish bashfulness, which 
makes us very backward to begin with them, and 
to speak plainly to them. We are so modest 
that we blush to speak for Christ, to contradict 
the devil, or to save a soul, when of shameful 
works we are less ashamed. 

4. Our worldly interests often stop our mouths 
and make us unfaithful in the work of Christ. We 
are afraid lest we bring trouble upon ourselves. 



334 reformed pasYoTi* [Chap. 6. 

or set people against us, and such like. All these 
require diligence for their resistance. 

5. The greatest hinderance of all is, that we 
are weak in faith ; so that when we should set 
upon a man for his conversion with all our might, 
if there be not the stirrings of unbelief within us, 
to raise up actual questionings of heaven and hell, 
whether the things that we should earnestly press 
be true ; yet at least the belief of them is weak, 
and do not excite in us fervent, resolute, and con- 
stant zeal. Thus our whole motion is weak, be- 
cause our faith, the spring of it, is weak. O what 
need therefore have all ministers for themselves and 
their work to look wfcll to their faith, especially 
that their assent to the truth of scripture, about 
the joy and torments of the life to come, be deep 
xind lively. 

6. We are unskilful in the work. Alas, how few 
know how to deal with men for their salvation ! 
To get within them, and win them, and suit all our 
speeches to their several conditions and tempers ; 
to chuse the fittest subjects, and follow them with a 
holy mixture of seriousness, terror, love, meek- 
ness, and evangelical allurements. O who is fit for 
these things ! I profess it seems to me as hard a 
matter to converse aright with such, as to preach 
such sermons as we usually do, if not much more 
so. All these difficulties in ourselves should awaken 
us to resolution, preparation, and diligence, that 






Chap. 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 335 

we be not overcome by them, and hindered in our 
work. 



In our people we have also many difficulties to 
grapple with. 

1. Many of them will be unwilling to be taught, 
and refuse to come near us, as being too good to be 
catechised, or too old to learn, unless we deal wise- 
ly with them in public and private, and by the force 
of reason and the power of love, conquer their 
perverseness, which we must carefully endeavour. 

2. Many who are willing, are extremely dull, and 
therefore will keep away for fear of shewing their 
dulness, unless we tenderly and diligently encour- 
age them. 

3. When they do come, so great is their igno- 
rance, that you will find it a hard matter to get them 
to understand you. Heace if you have not the art 
of making every thing plain, you will leave them 
as strange to it as before. 

4. You will find it still harder to fix things on 
their hearts, and set them home to the quick, so as to 
produce that saving change which is our end, and 
without which our labour is lost. Oh what a rock, 
is a hardened, carnal heart! How stiffly will it re- 
sist the most powerful persuasions, and hear of 
everlasting life or death as a thing of nought. If 
you have not therefore great seriousness, fervency, 
&nd fitness of expression, what good can you ex* 



336 REFORMED pastor. [Chap. 6, 

pect? And when all is done, the Spirit of Grace 
must do the work ; but as God and men chuse in- 
struments most suitable to the nature of the agent, 
work, or end, so here the Spirit of wisdom, life, 
and holiness, does not usually work by foolish, 
dead, or worldly instruments ; but by such persua- 
sions of light, life, and purity, as are most like him- 
self and the work that is to be wrought thereby. 

5. When you have made some impressions on 
their hearts, if you look not after them, they will 
soon return to their former hardness, and their old 
companions and temptations will render all abortive. 
All the difficulties of the work of conversion with 
which we usually acquaint our people are before 
us in our present work, which, however, I shall not 
enumerate. 

III. The third sort of reasons are drawn from the 
necessity of the work : for if it were not necessary, 
the lazy might be discouraged rather than excited 
by the forementioned difficulties. 

In the first place it is necessary by obligation, ut 
officiiim, necessitate proecepti: in the second, it is 
necessary ad jinem; and that for God, for our 
neighbours, and ourselves. 

(1.) We have on us the obligation of scripture- 
precepts, both general and special. — (2.) The 



Cliap. 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 337 

subservient obligation, by promises and threaten- 
ings. — (3.) These are seconded by executions of 
actual judgments and mercies. — (4.) We have the 
obligation of our own undertaking upon us. All 
these deserve your consideration. 

1. Every christian is obliged to do all that he 
can for the salvation of others ; but every minister 
is doubly obliged, because he is separated to the 
gospel of Christ for that end, and is to give him- 
self up wholly to that work. It is needless to ques- 
tion our obligation, when we know that this work 
is needful for the conversion and salvation of our 
people, and that we are commanded to do all that 
is needful for that end as far as we are able. 
Even old professors have need to be taught the 
first principles of God's oracles, if they have ne- 
glected or forgot them. That the unconverted 
have need of conversion, and the means of it, is 
not dtubted among us ; and whether the work 
of personal instruction be not a needful mean, ex- 
perience will put us out of doubt. Let those 
who have taken most pains in public, examine 
their people, and try whether many of them be 
not yet as ignorant and careless almost as if they 
had never heard the gospel. For my part, I study 
to speak as plainly and affectingly as I can : 
next my study to speak truth ? this is my chief 



338 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 6 

study, and yet I frequently meet with those wh< 
have been my hearers eight or ten years, wh< 
know not whether. Christ be God or man, anc 
wonder when I tell them the history of his birth, 
life, and death, as if they had never heard it be- 
fore ; and of those who know the history of the 
gospel, how few are there who know the nature oi 
that repentance, faith and holiness, which it re-l 
quires ; but most of them have an ungrounded affi- 
ance in Christ, trusting that he will justify and save 
them while the world has their hearts, and they 
live to themselves ; and this affiance they take for 
justifying faith. I have found by experience that 
these have got more knowledge and remorse of 
conscience in half an hour's close discourse, than 
they did from ten years public preaching. I know 
that the public preaching of the gospel is the most 
excellent mean, because we speak to many at 
once ; but otherwise, it is usually far more effec- 
tual to preach it privately to a particular sinner ; 
for the plainest man can scarcely speak plain 
enough in public for them to understand, but we 
may in private. In public, our discourses are long, 
and we quite overrun their understandings and 
memories — they are confounded and at a loss, and 
not able to follow us, and one thing drives out an- 
other. But in private we can take our work 
gradatim, and take our hearers with us as we go ; 
and by questions and their answers can see how 



Chap. 6.] REFORMED PASTER. 330 

far they go with us, and what we have next to do. 
I conclude therefore that public preaching will not 
be sufficient : for though it may be an effectual 
mean to convert many, yet not so many as may 
justly be expected from a diligent and faithful use 
of all the other means which God has appointed 
for that end. You may long study and preach to 
little purpose, if you neglect this duty of private 
and personal instruction. 

For instances of particular and special obliga- 
tion, we might easily shew you many, both from 
Christ's own example, who used this interlocutory 
dialogue way of preaching both to his disciples and 
the jews, and from the example of the apostles. — 
Thus Peter preached to the jews and to Cornelius 
and his friends ; thus Philip preached to the Eu- 
nuch, and thus Paul preached to the jailor and 
many others. It is plain that it was the most com- 
mon manner of preaching in those times. 

2. There is a necessity also of this duty ad jS- 
n em, 

(1.) For bringing greater glory to God, by the 
more full and extensive success of the gospel, be- 
cause he is most honoured and pleased when most 
are saved ; for he has sworn that he has no plea- 
sure in the death of a sinner, but rather that he re- 
turn and live. And, doubtless, as every christian 
lives to the glory of God as his end, so he will 
gladly take that course which will most effectually 



340 reformed pastor. {Chap. 6 

promote it ? for what man would not attain his end ? 
O, brethren, if we could set this work on foot in 
all the parishes in England, and get our people to 
submit to it, and then prosecute it skilfully and 
zealously ourselves, what a glory would it put 
upon the face of the nation, and what glory would 
redound to God thereby ! If our common ignorance 
were thus banished, our vanity and idleness turn- 
ed into the study of the way of life, and every 
shop, and every house, were busy in learning cat- 
echisms, and speaking of the word and works of 
God, what pleasure would God take in our cities 
and countries ! He would even dwell in our habi- 
tations, and make them his delight. It isi the 
glory of Christ; which shines in his saints, and 
all their glory is his glory ; that, therefore, w hich 
honours them, in number or excellence, hon- 
ours him. Will not the glory of Christ be most 
wonderful and conspicuous in the New Jerus;alem, 
when the church shall have that shining Lustre 
which is described in Rev. xxi. It is he v^ho is 
the sun and the shield of his church, and hi<> light 
is it in which they shall have light ; and the 
business of every saint is to glorify him. If there- 
fore we can increase the number or strength of 
the saints, we thereby increase the honour of the 
King of saints ; for he will have service and praise 
where before he had disobedience and dishonour. 
Christ also will be honoured in the fruits of his 



Chap. 6.] REFORMED PA'STOR. 341 

blood-shed, and the Spirit of Grace in the fruit of 
ftis operations ; and do not all these ends require 
us to use the means with diligence ? 

(2.) This duty also is necessary to the welfare 
of our people. How much it will tend to their 
salvation is manifest. Brethren, can you look on 
your miserable neighbours, and not perceive them 
calling for your help ? There is not a sinner 
whose case you should not so far compassionate 
as to be willing to relieve him at a dearer rate 
than this. Can you see them as the w T ounded man 
by the way, and unmercifully pass by ? Can you 
hear them cry to you as the man of Macedonia to 
Paul in his vision, come and help us ; and yet will 
you refuse your help ? Are you entrusted with 
an hospital, where one languishes in one corner, 
and another groans in another, and cries <*ut, ' O 
help me, pity me for the Lord's sake ;' and a third 
is raging mad, and would destroy himself and you ; 
and yet will you. sit idle ? If it may be said of him 
who does not relieve men's bodies, how much 
more of those who relieve not their souls ! " If 
you see your brother have need, and shut up the 
bowels of your compassion from him, how dwell- 
eth the love of God in you?" You are not such 
hard-hearted men, but you will pity a leper — you 
will pity the naked, imprisoned, or desolate — you 
will pity him who is tormented with grievous pain 
or sickness ; and will you not pity an ignorant, 

f f 2 



.342 reformed pastor. [Chap. 6* 

hard-hearted sinner ? Will you not pity one who 
must be shut out from the presence of the Lord,, 
and lie eternally under his wrath, if thorough and 
speedy repentance prevent it not? Oh what a 
heart it is which does not pity such a one ! What 
shall I call the heart of such a man ? A he art of 
stone, or adamant — the heart of a tiger, or lather 
the heart of an infidel ; for surely if he be] ieved 
the misery of the impenitent, it is not possiblte but 
he should have pity on him ! Can you tell men 
in the pulpit that they shall certainly be da mned 
except they repent, and yet have no pity or them 
when you have proclaimed their danger; and if 
you pity them, will you not do this much for their 
salvation ? What multitudes round about yoi 1 are 
blindly hastening to perdition ; and your voi^ce is 
appointed to be the mean of reclaiming them i 

Brethren, what if you heard sinners cry after 
you in the streets, ' O, sirs, have pity on me , and 
afford me your advice — I am afraid of the < ever- 
lasting wrath of God — I know I must shortly ] eave 
this world, and I am afraid lest I shall be misei rable 
in the next !' Could you deny your help to si ich a 
sinner ? What if they came to your study ( loor, 
and cried for help, and would not go away till you 
had told them how to escape the wrath of < jrod ; 
could you find in your hearts to drive them i away 
without advice ? I am confident you could not. 
Alas, such persons are less miserable than I hose 



CIlClp. 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 34j 

who cannot cry for help ! It is the hardened sin- 
ner that cares not for your help, who most needs 
it ; and he who has not so much life as to feel that 
he is dead, nor so much light as to see his danger, 
or so much sense left as to pity himself — this is the 
man that is most to be pitied. Look upon your 
neighbours round about you, and think what num- 
bers need your help in no less a case than the 
apparent danger of damnation. All the impeni- 
tent you see around you, suppose that you hear 
them cry to you, ' If ever you pitied poor wretch- 
es, pity us, lest we should be tormented in the 
flames of hell — if you have the hearts of men, pity 
us!' Do that for them which you would do if 
they followed you with such complaints. O how 
can you walk, and talk, and be merry with such 
people, when you know their case ! Methinks 
when you look them in the face, and think how 
they must lie in perpetual misery, you should 
hreak forth into tears, as the prophet did when he 
looked upon Hazael, and then begin with the most 
importunate exhortations. When you must visit 
them in their sickness, will it not wound your 
hearts to see them ready to depart into misery, 
before you have ever dealt seriously with them 
for their salvation ? then for the Lord's sake, 
and for the sake of poor souls, have pity on them, 
bestir yourselves, and spare no pains that may he 
conducive to their salvation, 



344 REFORMED PASTOR. [C^ a p- 6. 

(3.) I must further tell you that this ministerial 
fidelity is necessary to your own welfare as well 
as to that of your people ; for this is your work, 
according to which you shall be judged. You can 
no more be saved without ministerial diligence 
and fidelity, than they or you can be saved with- 
out christian diligence and fidelity. If you care 
not for others, at least care for yourselves. O 
what is it to answer for the neglect of such a 
charge ; and what sin is more heinous than the 
betraying of souls ? Does not this threatening 
make you tremble : " If thou warn not the wick- 
ed, their blood will I require at thy hands.-' I am 
afraid, nay, I am past doubt, that the day is near, 
when unfaithful ministers will wish they had never 
known their charge ; but that they hact rather 
been colliers, tinkers, or sweepers of channels, 
than pastors of Christ's flock- -when, besides all 
the rest of their sins, they shall have the blood of 
so many souls to answer for. 

O, brethren, our death, as well as that of our 
people, is at hand ; and it is as terrible to an un- 
faithful pastor as to any ! When we see that die 
we must, and there is no remedy, no wit or learn- 
ing, no credit or popular applause can put by the 
stroke or delay the time ; but, willing or unwil- 
ling, our souls must go, and that into a world 
which we never saw, where our persons and 
worldly interests will not be respected. O thea 



Chap. 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 345 

for a clear conscience, that can say, ' I lived not 
to myself, but to Christ ; I spared no pains ; I 
hid not my talent ; I concealed not men's misery, 
nor the way of their recovery.' O, sirs, let us 
therefore take time while we may have it, and 
work while it is day ; for the night cometh when 
none can work. This is our day too ; and by 
doing good to others we must do good to our- 
selves. If you would prepare for a comfortable 
death, and a sure and great reward, the harvest is 
before you : gird up the loins of your minds, and 
quit yourselves like men, that you may end your 
days with that confident triumph : " I have fought 
a good fight, I have kept the faith, I have finished 
my course ; henceforth is laid up for me a crown 
of righteousness, which God the righteous judge 
shall give me." And if you would be blessed 
with those who die in the Lord, labour now, that 
you may rest from your labours then ; and do such 
works as you would wish should follow you, and 
not such as will prove your terror in the re« 
view. 

Having given you the reasons for this work, I 
shall, before I come to the directions, — (1.) Apply 
them, in order to humble and excite us to the 
work. — (2.) Answer some objections. 

1. What cause have we to bleed before the Lord 
this day, who have neglected this great and good 



346 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 6. 

wtfrk so long — that we have been ministers of the 
gospel so many years, and done so little, by per- 
sonal instruction, for the saving of men's souls I 
If we had set about this business sooner, who 
knows how many more might have been brought 
to Christ, and how much holier and happier we 
might have made our congregations ; and why 
might we not have done it sooner? There were 
many hinderances in our way ; and so there are 
still, and always will be : but if the greatest hin- 
derance had not been in ourselves — in our owa 
dulness and littleness of faith and love, much might 
have been done before now. We had the same 
God to command us, and the same miserable objects 
of compassion to excite us to the work. May the 
Lord in mercy forgive us and lay not this or any 
of our ministerial negligences to our charge ! O 
that he would cover all our unfaithfulness ; and by 
the blood of the everlasting covenant wash away 
our guilt of the blood of souls, that when the chief 
Shepherd shall appear, we may stand before him 
in peace, and may not be condemned for scattering 
or neglecting his flock ! 

2. Now, brethren, what shall we do for the time 
to come, but deny and rouse up ourselves to the 
business that we are engaged in. The harvest is 
great ; the labourers are too few ; the loiterers and 
contentious hinderers are many ; the souls of men, 
are precious ; the misery of sinners is great, and the 



Chap. 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 347 

everlasting misery that they are in danger of is 
greater ; the beauty and glory of the church is de- 
sirable ; the joy that we are helping them to is in- 
conceivable. To be co-workers with God and his 
Spirit, and to promote the end for which Christ 
shed his blood, by striving for men's salvation, is 
most glorious ; to lead on the armies of Christ 
through the midst of their enemies, and conduct 
them safe to the land of everlasting rest, requires 
no small skill and diligence. The season for doing 
this work is more calm and favourable than most 
ages before us have ever seen. The present time 
is posting away : while we are trifling, men are dy- 
ing, and passing quickly into another world. And 
is there nothing in all this to awaken us to our duty, 
and prompt us to speedy and unwearied diligence ? 
Can a mtm be too careful and active under all these 
motives and engagements ? Do we need to heap 
up words to persuade you to a known and most im- 
portant duty ? One would think it should be enough 
to shew you a line in the book of God, to prove 
that it is his will, and has a tendency to men's sal- 
vation ; or that the very sight of your miserable 
neighbours should be sufficient to draw out your most 
compassionate endeavours for their relief. Were 
there but clear and deep impressions upon our souls 
of those glorious things that we daily preach, what 
a change would it make in our sermons and in our 
private discourse. what a miserable thing it is 



r> 



48 reformed PASTOR. [Chap. 6. 






to the church and to themselves, that men must 
preach of heaven and hell, before they heartily 
believe the reality of either, or have felt the weight 
of the doctrines they preach ! it is amazing to 
think what matters we preach and talk of. Togeth- 
er with a thousand other truths equally important 
and solemn, we tell our hearers that their souls 
must shortly be separated from their bodies, appear 
before a righteous God, and enter upon unchange 
able joy or torment. O with what amazing thoughts 
do dying men view these things ! How should such 
matters be preached and discoursed of. O the grav- 
ity, the seriousness, the incessant diligence that 
these things require ! I know not what others 
think of them ; but for my part, I am ashamed of 
my stupidity, and wonder at myself, that I deal not 
with my own and other souls as one who looks for 
the great day of the Lord ; and that I can have 
room for almost any other thoughts or words, and 
that such astonishing matters do not wholly occupy 
me. I marvel how I can preach of them super- 
ficially and coldly, how I can let men alone in their 
sins, and that I do not go to them, and beseech 
them for the Lord's sake to repent, however they 
take it, and whatever pains or trouble it may cost 
me. I seldom come out of the pulpit but my con- 
science smites me that I have been no more serious 
and fervent. It accuses me not so much for want 
of human ornaments or elegancy, nor for letting fall 



OlOp. 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 349 

i 

an uncouth wojd ; but it asks me, * How couldst 
thou speak of life and death with such an heart ? 
How couldst thou preach of hjeaven and hell in such 
a careless, sleepy manner ? Dost thou believe 
what thou hast said ? Art thou in earnest or in 
jest ? How canst thou tell people that sin is such a 
thing, and that so much misery is upon them and 
before them, and be no more affected with it? 
Shouldst thou not weep over such a people, and 
should not thy tears interrupt thy words ; shouldst 
not thou cry aloud, and shew them their transgres- 
sions, and entreat and beseech them as for life and 
death.' Truly this is the peal that conscience rings 
in my ears, and yet my drowsy soul is not fully 
awakened. O what a thing is a senseless harden- 
ed heart ! O Lord, save us from the plague of in- 
fidelity ourselves, or else how shall we be fit instru- 
ments of saving others from it ? I am even con- 
founded to think what a difference there is between 
my views in sickness, and my pulpit discourses and 
conversation in health, concerning the life to come : 
that that can appear so light to me now which was 
then so solemn and affecting, and which I know 
will be so again when death looks me in the face. 

O, brethren, surely if you had all conversed 
with death as often as I have done, and as often 
received the sentence in yourselves, you would 
have an unquiet conscience, without a reformed 
life in your ministerial diligence and fidelity ; and 

G g 



350 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 6. 

you would have something within you that would 
frequently ask you such questions as these : ' Is 
this all thy compassion for lost sinners — wilt thou 
do no more to seek and to save them ? Is there not 
such and such a one — O how many round about 
thee who are yet the visible sons of death ! What 
hast thou said to them or done for their recovery ? 
Shall they die and be in hell before thou wilt 
speak one serious word to them to prevent it ? 
Shall they there curse thee for ever that didst no 
more in time to save thern V Such cries of con- 
science are daily in my ears, though, the Lord 
knows, I have too little obeyed them. The God 
of mercy pardon me, and awake me with the rest 
of his servants who have been thus sinfully negli- 
gent ! I confess to my shame that I seldom hear 
the bell toll for one that is dead, but conscience 
asks me, ' What hast thou done for the saving of 
that soul before it left the body ? There is one 
more gone to judgment. What didst thou to pre* 
pare that immortal spirit for judgment ?' And yet 
I have been slothful and backward to help those 
who survive. How can you refrain, when laying 
a corpse in the grave, from thinking, c Here lies 
the body, but where is the soul, and what have I 
done for it before it departed ? It was part of my 
charge — what account can I give of it V 0, sirs, 
is it a small matter to answer such questions as 
these ! It may seem so now, but the hour is com- 



Chap. 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 351 

ing when it will not. If our hearts condemn us, 
God is greater than our hearts, and will condemn 
us much more, with another kind of condemnation 
than conscience does. The voice of conscience 
now is a still voice, and the sentence of conscience 
is a gentle sentence, in comparison of the voice 
and the sentence of God. Alas, conscience sees 
but very little of our sin and misery, in comparison 
of what God sees ! What mountains would these 
things appear to your souls, which now seem 
mole-hills ; and what beams would these be in 
your eyes, though now but as motes, if you saw 
them as you ought : I dare not say, as God sees 
them. " Wherefore we receiving (and preaching) 
a kingdom that cannot be moved, let us have grace, 
whereby we may serve God acceptably, with rev- 
erence and godly fear ; for our God is a consuming 
fire." (Heb. xii. ult.) 

That you may not say I frighten myself or you 
without cause, and tell you of dangers and terrors 
when there are none, I will here add the certainty 
of that condemnation which is likely to befal neg- 
ligent pastors, and particularly that will befal us, 
if we shall hereafter be wilful neglecters of this 
great work. Many will rise up against us and 
condemn us. 

(1.) Our parents, who destined us to the minis- 
try, will condemn us, and say, ' Lord> we devoted 
them to thy service, and they made light of it 3 
and served themselves.* 



352 REFORMED pastor. [Chap. 6. 

(2.) Our masters who taught us, our tutors who 
instructed us, the schools and universities that we 
lived in, and all the years we spent in study, w T ill 
rise up in judgment against us, and condemn us. 
What was all this for, but the work of God ? 

(3.) Our learning, knowledge, and ministerial 
gifts, will condemn us. For what end are we 
made partakers of these, but for the work of God ? 

(4.) Our voluntarily undertaking the charge of 
souls will condemn us ; for men should be true to 
the trust they undertake. 

(5») All the care of God for his church, and all 
that Christ has done and suffered for them, will 
rise up in judgment against us, and condemn us, 
because by our negligence we destroyed them for 
whom Christ died. 

(6.) All the severe precepts and charges of holy 
scripture, with the promises of assistance and re- 
ward, and all the threatenings of punishment, will 
rise up against the unfaithful and condemn them. 

(7.) The example of the prophets and apostles, 
and other preachers recorded in scripture, will 
rise up against such and condemn them. This pat- 
tern set them by Paul, (Acts, xx.) and the exam- 
ple of the diligent servants of Christ in these later 
times, and in the places around them. These were 
for their imitation, to provoke them to an holy 
emulation in fidelity and ministerial diligence. 

(8.) The holy bible, and all the books in ovr 



Chap. 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 353 

studies, which tell us of our duty, directly or indi- 
rectly, 'will condemn lazy and unprofitable ser- 
vants. 

(9.) All the sermons by which we endeavour to 
persuade our people to work out their salvation 
with fear and trembling, to lay violent hands upon 
the crown, and take the kingdom as by force, to 
strive to enter in at the strait gate, and so to run 
as that they may obtain, will rise up against us, and 
condemn us ; for if it concern them to labour for 
their salvation, does it not concern us who have 
the charge of them to be also violent, laborious, 
and unwearied, in striving to help on their salva- 
tian ? Is it worth their labour and patience, and is 
it not also worth ours ? 

(10) All the sermons by which we set before 
them the danger of their natural state, the evil of 
sin, the need of Christ and grace, the joys of hea- 
ven and the torments of hell, yea, and the truth of 
the christian religion, wili rise up in judgment 
against us, and condemn us. And a dismal review 
it will be, when we shall be forced to think, { Did 
I tell them of such great dangers and hopes in pub- 
lic, and would I do no more to help them in pri- 
vate ? What, tell them daily of threatened damna- 
tion, and yet let them run into it ! Tell them of 
such glory, and scarcely speak a word to them 
personally to help them to it ! Were these such 
great matters with me at church, and so small 

g g 2 



354 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 6, 

when I came home V Dreadful self-condemna- 
tion ! 

(11.) All the sermons that we have preached to 
persuade other men to these very duties ; as neigh- 
bours to exhort one another daily, and plainly to 
rebuke them that sin ; parents and masters to in- 
struct their children and servants. All these will 
condemn us. For shall we persuade others to that 
which we will not do ourselves ? When we threat- 
en them for neglecting it, we threaten our ow r n 
souls, 

(12.) The maintenance we take for our service, 
if we be unfaithful, will condemn us : for who will 
pay a servant to take his pleasure, or sit still, or 
work for himself? If we have the fleece, it is 
surely that we may feed the flock. By taking the 
wages, we oblige ourselves to the work. 

(13.) All the honour we expect or receive from 
the people, and all the ministerial privileges be- 
fore mentioned, will condemn the unfaithful. 

(14.) All the judgments that God has executed 
on them in this age before our eyes, will condemn 
us, if we be unfaithful. Has he made the idle 
shepherds and sensual drones to stink in the nost- 
rils of the people, and will he honour us if we be 
idle and sensual ? Has he sequestered them, and 
cast them out of their habitations, and out of the 
pulpits, and laid them by as dead while they are 
alive, and made them a hissing and a by-word in 



Ghap. G.] REFORMED TASTOR 35o 

the hind ; and yet dare we imitate them ? Are not 
their sufferings our warnings ? If any thing in the 
world could awaken ministers to self-denial and 
diligence, one would think we have seen enough 
to do it. If the judgments of God on one man 
could do so much, what should so many years' 
judgment on so many hundreds do? Would your 
have imitated the old world, if you had seen the 
flood that drowned them ? Would you have taken 
up the sins of Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and 
idleness, if you had seen the flames of Sodom? 
This was God's argument to deter the Israelites 
from the sins of the surrounding nations : " For 
all these things they had seen them cast out be* 
fore them.'' Who would have been a Judas that 
had seen him hang himself; or a lying, sacrile- 
gious hypocrite, that had seen Ananias and Sap- 
phira struck dead ? Who would not have been 
afraid to contradict the gospel that had seen Ely- 
mas struck blind ? And shall we prove self-seek- 
ing, idle ministers, when we have seen God scour- 
ging such out of his temple, and sweeping them 
away in his displeasure ? God forbid ! For them 
how great and manifold will our condemnation 
be? 

(15.) All the days of fasting and prayer that 
have been of late years in England for a reforma- 
tion will rise up in judgment against the unreform- 
ed, who will not be persuaded to this part of the 



366 reformed pastor, [Chap, 6, 

work. And I confess it is so heavy an aggravation 
of our sin, that it makes me ready to tremble to 
think of it. Was there ever a nation on the face 
of the earth that so long and solemnly followed 
God with fasting and prayer as we have done ? 
For many years we had a monthly fast, besides 
frequent private and public fasts ; and what was 
all this for ? The end of all our prayers was 
church-reformation, and especially these two 
things : a faithful ministry, and exercise of dis- 
cipline in the church. Did it then once enter 
into the hearts of the people, yea, or into our own 
hearts, to imagine, that when we had all that we 
w r ished for, and the iratter was put into our own 
hands, to be as diligent as we could, and to exer- 
cise what discipline we pleased, that then we 
would do nothing but preach publicly ; that we 
would not be at the pains to catechize and instruct 
our people personally, nor exercise any consider- 
able part of discipline at all? It astonishes me to 
think of it. What a depth of deceit is in the 
heart of man ! 

O the earnest prayers that I have heard in se- 
cret for a faithful ministry and for discipline! 
They prayed as if they had wrestled for salvation 
itself. Yea, they commonly called discipline the 
kingdom of Christ, or the exercise of his kingly 
office in his church ; and so preached and prayed 
for it, as if the setting up of discipline had been 



Chap. 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 357 

the setting up of the kingdom of Christ; and did 
I then think that they would refuse to set it up 
when they might ! What, is the kingdom o 
Christ now reckoned among the things indiffer- 
ent ! 

If the God of heaven, who knew our hearts* 
had in the midst of our prayers and cries, on one 
of our public monthly fasts, returned us this an- 
swer with his dreadful voice, in the audience of 
the assembly : ■ You deceitful-hearted sinners, 
what hypocrisy is this, to weary me with your 
cries, for that which you will not have if I would 
give it you, and thus to lift up your voices for that 
which your souls abhor ! What is reformation 
but the instructing and importunate persuading o 
sinners to entertain my Christ and grace as offered 
them, and the governing my church according to 
my word ? And these, which are your work, 
you will not be persuaded to, when you come to 
find it troublesome and ungrateful. When I have 
delivered you, it is not me but yourselves that you 
will serve ; and I must be as earnest to persuade 
^ou to reform the church, in doing your own duty, 
as you are earnest with me to grant you liberty 
for reformation ; and when all is done you will 
leave it undone.' I say, if the Lord, or any mes- 
senger of his, had given us such an answer, would 
it not have amazed us, and seemed incredible to 
us that our hearts should ever be such as now 



358 REFORMED pastor. [Chap. 6. 

they prove ; and would we not have said as Haz- 
ael, " Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this 
thing ;" or as Peter, " Though all men forsake 
thee, yet will not I." Well, brethren, sad ex- 
perience has discovered our frailty. We have 
denied the troublesome and costly part of the re- 
formation that we prayed for : but Christ still 
turns back, and looks with a merciful eye upon 
us. O that we had but the hearts immediately to 
go out and weep bitterly, and do as we have done 
no more, lest a worse thing come upon us ; but 
henceforth follow Christ through labour and 
suffering, though it were unto death. 

(16.) All the judgments upon the nation, the 
cost, the labour, the blood, and the deliverances, 
and all the endeavours of the governors for refor- 
mation, will rise up against us, if we now refuse 
to be faithful for a reformation, when it is before 
us, and at our will. 

(17.) If we still make light of a reformation, by 
instructing the ignorant, or exercising Christ's dis- 
cipline, many vows and promises of our own will 
rise up in judgment against us and condemn us. 
Not to mention the national covenant, we solemnly 
engaged near three years ago that we would set 
up the exercise of discipline, and yet how many 
have neglected it to this day, without giving any 
good reason for it. We have now subscribed 
another engagement for catechizing and instruct- 



Chap. 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 359 

ins: all that will submit. We have done well so 
far : but if we should flag, and prove remiss and 
superticial in the performance, our subscriptions 
will condemn us — this day's humiliation will con- 
demn us. Be not deceived, God is not mocked : 
it is not your names only, but your hearts and 
hands also, that he requires. There is no dally- 
ing with God by feigned promises : he expects 
that you will be as good as your word. He will 
not hold him guiltless who by false oaths, vows, or 
covenants with him, takes his holy name in vain. 
" When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to 
pay it ; for he hath no pleasure in fools : pay that 
which thou hast vowed. Better is it that thou 
shouldst not vow, than that thou shouldst vow and 
not pay. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh 
to sin ; neither say thou before the angel that it 
was an error ; wherefore should God be angry at 
thy voice, and destroy the work of thy hands ?" 
Eccles, v. 4 — 6. 

Thus I have shewed you what will be the con > 
sequence of your not setting yourselves faithfully 
to this work, to which you have so many obliga- 
tions and engagements ; what an inexcusable thing 
our neglect will be, and how great and manifold a 
condemnation it will expose us to. Truly, breth- 
ren, if I did not apprehend the work to be of ex- 
ceeding great moment to yourselves, to the peo« 
pie, and to the honour of God, I would not have 



360 reformed pastor. [Chap. 6, 

troubled you with so many words about it, nor 
have presumed to have spoken so sharply as I 
have done. But when it is for life and death, men 
are apt to forget their reverence, courtesy, and 
compliments. For my part, I apprehend this is 
one of the best and greatest works that ever I put 
my hand to : and I verily think that your thoughts 
of it are as mine. If so, you will not think my 
words too many or too keen. I can well remember 
the time when I was earnest for the reformation of 
matters of ceremony ; and if I should be cold in 
such a substantial matter as this, how dispropor- 
tionate, would my zeal appear. Alas, can we think 
that the reformation is wrought, when we have 
cast out a few ceremonies, changed some vestures, 
gestures, and forms ; No ; it is the converting and 
saving of souls that is our business. The chief 
part of the reformation is that which does most 
good, and tends most to the salvation of the people. 
Let others take it as they please, I will so far speak 
for your encouragement, as to say again, I am verily 
persuaded, that as you are happily agreed and com- 
bined for this work, so if you faithfully execute 
this agreement, together with your former agree- 
ment for discipline, you will do much more for a 
true reformation, and that peaceably, without med- 
dling with controverted points, than has yet been 
done in any part of England, though no more than 
is unquestionably your duty. 



Chap. C] REFORMED PASTOR. 361 

I shall now answer some objections. 

1. Some object that ' this course will take up so 
much time as to interfere with our studies. Most 
of us are young, and have need of much time to im- 
prove our own abilities, which this course prohibits 
us.' — To this I answer : 

(1.) Those whom we persuade to this work 
are supposed to understand the substance of the 
christian religion, and to be able to teach others ; 
and the addition cf lower and less necessary things 
is not to be preferred before this needful commu- 
nication of the fundamentals. 1 highly value com- 
mon knowledge, and would not encourage any to set 
light by it ; but I value the saving of souls before 
it. That work which is immediately connected 
with the end of all our labours must be done, what- 
ever be undone. Get well to heaven, and help 
your people thither, and then you shall know 
in a moment a thousand times mors than what you 
can now attain by all your studies ; and is not this 
the most expeditious and certain way to knowl- 
edge ? 

(2.) If you grow not extensively in knowledge, 
you will by this way of diligent practice obtain the 
intensive and more excellent growth. If you 
know not so many things as others, you will know v 
the great things better than they ; for this serious 
dealing with with sinners for their salvation will 
help you to far deeper apprehensions of their sa* 

h h 



362 REFORMED pastor. [Chap. 6. 

Ting principles than will be got by any other means^ 
and more of the knowledge of these is worth all 
the other knowledge in the world. When I am 
looking heavenward, gazing towards the inaccessi- 
ble light, and aspiring after the knowledge of God, 
and find my soul so dark and distant, that I am ready 
to say, ' I know not God — he is above me — quite 
out of my reach :' this is the most killing and griev- 
ous ignorance. Methinks I could willingly ex- 
change all other knowledge that I have for one 
<rlimpe more of the knowledge of God and the life 
to come. O that I had never known a word in 
logic, metaphysics, &c. ; nor known what school- 
men said, so I had but one spark more of that light 
that would shew me the things that 1 must shortly 
see. For my part, I conceive that by seriously 
talking of everlasting things, and teaching the 
creed and catechism, you may grew more in 
knowledge, though not in the knowledge of more 
things, and prove much wiser men than if you spent 
that time in common or curious and less necessary 

things. 

(3.) Yet let me add, that though I count this the 
chief knowledge, I wish you to have more ; be- 
cause those subservient sciences are very useful : 
and therefore I say, that you may have competent 
time for both, lose none upon vain recreations and 
employments ; trifle not away a minute : consume 
knot in needless sleep; do what you do with ajl 



Cliap. G.] REFORMED PASTOR. OUO 

your might, and then see whether you will not 
have a sufficient portion of time for gaining useful 
knowledge. If you set apart but two days in a 
week for this great work, you may find some for 
common studies out of all .the other five. 

(4.) Duties must be taken together* and the 
greatest preferred ; but none neglected that can 
be performed, nor one pleaded against another, 
but each in its proper place. Therefore if we can- 
not pursue our studies, and instruct the ignorant, 
we must let our studies alone. I would throw by 
all the libraries in the world, rather than be guilty 
of the perdition of one soul. 

2. It is objected, 'But this course will destroy 
the health of our bodies, by allowing us no time 
for necessary recreations ; and it will wholly lock 
us up from any civil and friendly intercourse with 
our friends for the relaxation of our minds.' 

Ans. (I.) This is the mere plea of the carnal 
mind. The sluggard saith there is a lion in the 
way. He will not plough because of the cold. — 
There is no duty of moment and self-denial, but, if 
you consult with flesh and blood, they will give 
you as good reasons as these against it. Who 
would ever have been burnt at a stake for Christ, 
if this reasoning had been good ; yea, who would 
ever have been a christian ? 

(2.) We may take time for necessary recrea- 
tion. An hour, or half an hour's walk before 



364 reformed pastor, [Chap. 6. 

meals, is as much recreation as is necessary for the 
health of the weaker sort of students. I know 
something of this by long experience. I have lan- 
guished under great bodily weakness for many 
years, and have found exercise the principal mean 
of my preservation till now; and therefore have 
as great reason to plead for it as any man that I 
know ; yet I have found that the foresaid pro* 
portion of time has been blessed to my preserva- 
tion, though I know more would have tended to 
increase my health. I do not know one minister 
in a hundred who needs so much as I do. Yea, I 
know abundance of ministers who scarcely ever 
use any exercise at all, but I do not commend them 
for it. It is our duty to use as much exercise as 
is necessary for the preservation of our health, so 
far at least as our work requires ; otherwise we 
should for one day's work lose the opportunity of 
many. But this may be done, and yet the works 
which we are engaged in be done too. 

As for those men who do not limit their recrea- 
tion to their stated hours, but must have them mere- 
ly for their pleasure, and not only to fit them for 
their work ; such have need to study better the 
nature of Christianity, learn the danger of living 
after the flesh, and more mortification and self-de- 
nial before they preach these things to others. If 
you must needs have your pleasures, you should 
not have put yourselves into that calling that re- 



Chap. 6 ] REFORMED PASTOR, 36& 

quires you to make God and his service } r our plea- 
sure. Your baptismal engagement is to fight against 
the flesh. Much of the christian warfare consists 
in the combat between the flesh and the spirit. — 
The difference between a true christian and a 
wicked man is, that one lives after the Spirit, and 
mortifies the deeds of the bodv, and the other lives 
after the flesh. Do you know that the overcom- 
ing the flesh is the principal part of our victory, 
on which the crown of life depends ; and do you 
make it your calling to preach all this to others, 
and yet must you needs have your pleasures ? If 
you must, then for shame give over preaching the 
gospel, and the profession of christian self-denial, 
and profess yourselves to be what you are ; and as 
you sow to the flesh, so of the flesh shall you re- 
ceive the wages of corruption. Does such a one 
as Paul say, •' I therefore so run, not as uncer- 
tainly ; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air ; 
but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjee> 
tion, lest that by any means, when I have preached 
to others, I myself should be a cast-away." (1 Cor. 
iv. 26, 27.) And have not we need to do so ? Shall 
we pamper our bodies, and indulge ourselves in 
unnecessary pleasures, when Paul must keep un- 
der his body, and bring it into subjection ? Must 
Paul do this, lest after all his preaching he should 
be a cast-away ; and have not we cause to fear 
it of ourselves much more ? I know that some 

h h 2 



366 reformed pastoh, [Chap. 6. 

pleasure itself is lawful ; that is, when it is of use 
to fit us for our work. But for a man to be so far 
in love with his pleasures, as that he must unne- 
cessarily waste his precious time in them, and ne- 
glect the great work of God for men's salvation, 
yea, and plead /or this as if it might be done, and 
to justify himself in such a course,, is wickedness 
inconsistent with the common fidelity of a chris- 
tian, much more with the fidelity of a teacher of 
the church. Such as are lovers of pleasure more 
than lovers of God must look to be loved of him 
accordingly, and are more fit to be cast out of 
christian communion than to be chief in the church ; 
for we are commanded from such to turn away. — 
The recreations of a student must be especially 
for the exercise of his body : in his work he has 
a great variety of delights for his mind ; and they 
must be like whetting with the mower, only used 
so far as is necessary for his work. He must be 
careful that they rob him not of his precious time, 
and therefore must be kept within narrow bounds. 
Peruse Mr. Wheatley's sermon on the redemption 
of time. 

(3.) The labour we are now engaged to perform 
is not likely to impair our health. It is true it 
must be serious ; but that will only excite and re- 
vive our spirits, and not spend them. Men can 
talk all the day long of other matters without any 
abatement of their health ; and why may not we 



Chap. 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 357 

talk with men about their salvation without any 
abatement of ours ? 

What have we our time and strength for but to 
lay both out for God ? What is a candle made for 
but to burn ? Burnt and wasted we must be ; and 
is it not more fit it should be in lighting men to 
heaven, and in working for God, than in living to 
the flesh ? How little difference is there between 
the pleasure of a loog and a short life when both 
are at an end ? What comfort will it be at death, 
that you lengthened your life by shortening your 
work ? He that works much, lives much. Our 
life is to be esteemed according to the end and 
work of it, and not according to the mere dura- 
tion. As Seneca can say of a drone, ibi jacet, non 
ibi vivit : &r diu fuit, non diu vixit. Will it not 
comfort us more at death to review a short time 
faithfully spent, than a long time unfaithfully ? 

(4.) Visiting and civilities, if they be for greater 
purpose? than your ministerial employments are, 
you may break a sabbath for them ; you may for- 
bear preaching, and also this private work. But 
if it be otherwise, how dare you make them a 
pretence to neglect so great a duty ? Must God 
wait on your friends ? What if they be lords, 
or knights, or gentlemen! Must they b§ served 
before him? Is their displeasure equal to his? 
Or dare you think when God calls you to give an 
account of your ways, to put him oft' with this ex- 



368 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 6* 

cuse i ' Lord, I would have spent more of my time 
in seeking men's salvation, but that such a gentle- 
man and such a friend would have taken it ill if I 
had not waited on them.' If you yet seek to 
please men you are no longer the servants of 
Christ. He who dares spend his life in self-pleas- 
ing and man-pleasing, is bolder than I am ; and 
he who dares waste his time in compliments, little 
considers what he has to do with it. O that I 
could improve my time according to my convic- 
tions of the necessity of it ! He who has looked 
death in the face as often as I have done will 
thereby be taught to value his time. I profess I 
wonder at those ministers who can hunt, shoot, 
bowl, or use such recreations two or three hours, 
yea whole days together ; who can sit an hour in 
vain company, and spend whole days in compli- 
mental visits and journies. Good Lord, what do 
these men think on ! When so many souls are 
crying for their help, and they know not how 
short time their people and they may be together ; 
and the smallest parish has work sufficient to em- 
ploy all their diligence night and day ! 

Brethren, I hope you are content to be plainly 
dealt with. If you have no sense of the worth of 
souls, of the preciousness of that blood which was 
shed for them, of the glory to which they are 
.going, and of the misery they are in danger of; 
then are you no christians, and therefore very unfit 



Chap. 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 369 

to be ministers : and if you have, how can you 
find time for needless recreations, visits, or dis- 
courses ? Dare you chat and trifle away your 
time, when you have such works as these to do, 
and so many of them ? O precious time — how 
swiftly does it pass away — how soon will it be 
gone ! What are the forty years of my life that 
are past! Were everyday as long as a month, 
methinks it were too short for the work of a 
day. Have we not lost enough already in the 
days of our vanity ? Never do I come to a dying 
man that is not utterly stupid, but he sees the 
worth of time. O then if they could call time 
back, how loud would they call ! If they could 
but buy it, what would they not give for it ! And 
yet we trifle it away ; yea, and allow ourselves in 
this, and wilfully cast off the greatest works of 
God. O what a bewitching thing is sin, that can 
thus distract even wise men ! Is it possible that 
a man of any true compassion and honesty, who 
has any concern for his ministerial duty, or any 
sense of the strictness of the account he must 
shortly give, should have time to spare for idleness 
and vanity. 

I must tell you further, brethren, that suppose 
others may take some time for mere delight which 
is not strictly necessary, yet so may not you ; for 
your undertaking binds you to a stricter attend- 
ance. May a physician in the time of the plague 



370 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 6, 

take any more relaxation than is necessary foi 
his life, when so many require his help in a cas< 
of life and death ! As his pleasure is not wort] 
men's lives, so neither is yours worth men's souls, 
Suppose your cities were besieged, and the ene- 
my watching all advantages to take them by sur- 
prize, and striving continually to set them on fire ; 
I pray you tell me, if certain men undertook to 
watch the ports, and others to quench the fire 
that might kindle in the houses, what time would 
you allow these men for recreation or relaxation ? 
At the utmost, you would allow them none but 
what was absolutely necessary. 

Do not grudge now, and say, c This is a hard 
saying, who can bear it V For it is your mercy ; 
and you are well, if you know when you are 
well, as I shall shew you in answering the next 
objection. 

3. It is objected, ' I do not think that it is requir- 
ed of ministers to make drudges of themselves. If 
they preach diligently, visit the sick, do other 
ministerial duties, and occasionally do good to those 
they converse with, I do not think that God re 
quires we should thus tie ourselves to instruct 
every person distinctly, and make our lives mere 
slavery.' 

Ans. (1.) Do you think God does not require 
you to do all the good you can ? Will you stand 
by and free sinners gasping under the pangs of 



Cliap. 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 371 

death, and say, ' God does not require me to make 
myself a drudge to save them V Is this the voice 
of ministerial or christian compassion, or rather 
of laziness and diabolical cruelty ? Does God set 
you work to do, and will you not believe that he 
would have you do it? Is that the voice of obe- 
dience or of rebellion ? It is all one whether you 
deny obedience to acknowledge duty, and say 
plainly, ' I will obey no further than it pleases 
me ;' or whether you wilfully reject the evidence 
that should convince you that it is a duty, and 
say, ' I will not believe it to be my duty unless it 
please me.' It is the true character of a self-de- 
ceiver to make a religion to himself -of the cheap- 
est part of God's service, which he endeavours to 
reconcile with his selfish ends, and to reject the 
rest. To the words of hypocrisy this objection 
superadds the words of gross impiety. For what 
a wretched calumny is this against the Most High 
God, to call his service slavery and drudgery. 
What thoughts have these men of their Master, 
their work, and their wages ! Are they likely to 
honour God and promote his service, who have 
such base thoughts of it themselves ? Do they 
delight in holiness who account it a slavish work ? 
Do they believe indeed the misery of sinners who 
consider it drudgery to be diligent in striving to 
save them? Christ says, he that denies not him- 
Self, forsakes aot all, and tak§s not up his cross 



372 reformed pastor. [Chap. 6. 

daily, and follows him, cannot be his disciple ; and 
yet these men count it a slavery to labour hard 
in his vineyard and deny themselves. If they had 
seen the diligence of Christ when he went about 
doing good, when he neglected his meat to talk 
with one woman, and when he had no time to eat 
bread, would not they have been of the same 
mind with his carnal friends, who went to lay hold 
on him, and said, " He is beside himself." They 
would have told him he made a drudge or a slave 
of himself, and that God did not require so much. 
If they had seen him all night in prayer, and all 
day preaching and healing the diseased, it seems 
they would have censured him for his labour. I 
advise these men to search their own hearts, 
whether they unfeignedly believe the word that 
they preach. Do you believe indeed that such 
glory attends those who die in the Lord, and such 
torment those who die unconverted ? If you do, 
how can you think any labour too much for such 
weighty purposes ? If you do not, say so, and get 
you out of the vineyard. Go with the prodigal 
to keep swine, but do not undertake to feed the 
flock of Christ. 

Do you not know that it is your own benefit 
which you call drudgery ? The more you do, 
the more you receive : the more you lay out, the 
more you have coming in. If you are strangers 
to these christian paradoxes, you should not have 



Cliap. 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 37 



c 



taken on you to teach them to others. At the 
present our incomes of spiritual life and peace are 
commonly in the way of duty ; so that he who is 
most in duty has most of God. Exercise of grace 
increases it. And is it a slavery to be more with 
God, and to receive more from him than other 
men? It is the chief solace of a gracious soul 
to be doing good, and receiving b} 7 doing, and to 
be much exercised about those divine things w T hich 
have his heart. Besides, we prepare for fuller 
receivings hereafter. We set our talents to usu- 
ry ; and by improving them w r e shall make five 
become ten, and so be made rulers of ten cities. 
We shall be judged according to our works. Is it 
a drudgery to send to the utmost parts of the world 
to exchange our trifles for gold and jewels ? Do 
not these men seek to justify and encourage pro- 
fane sinners, who consider all diligent godliness 
a drudgery, and reproach it as a precise and te- 
dious life. They say they will never believe but 
a man mav be saved without so much ado. Even 
so say these in respect to the work of the minis- 
try. They will not believe but a man may be a 
faithful minister without all this ado. It is a hein- 
ous sin to be negligent in such important business ; 
but to approve of that negligence, and to plead 
against duty, as if it were none ; and when they 
should lay out themselves for the saving of souls, 
to say, ' I do not believe that Gcd requires it ; 

i i 



.i 



374 reformed pastor. [Chap. 6> 

this is so great an aggravation of the sin, that, 
where the churches necessity does not force us 
to make use of such for want of better, I cannot 
but think them worthy to be cast out as the rub- 
bish, and as salt that has lost its savour, which is 
neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghilL 
And if such ministers become a by-word and re- 
proach, let them thank themselves ; for it is their 
own sin that makes them vile. 

4. It is objected, ' But if you make such severe 
laws for ministers, the church will be left without : 
for men will avoid it, both on account of bodily toil, 
and danger to their consciences, if they should not 
properly discharge it.' 

Ajis. (1.) It is not we, but Christ that hath made 
and imposed these laws which you call severe ; and 
if I should silence, misinterpret, or tell you that 
there is no such laws, that would not relax them, 
nor excuse you. He that made them, knew why 
he did it, and expects obedience to them. Is infi- 
nite goodness itself to be questioned or suspected 
by us, as making unmerciful laws ? Nay, it is mere 
mercy in him who imposes this great duty on us. 
What, must God let the souls of your neighbours 
perish to save you a little labour and suffering, and 
this in mercy to you ? O what a miserable world 
should we have, if blind, self-conceited man, had 
the ruling of it ? 

(2.) As for a supply of pastors, Christ will take 



Chap. 6.] REFORMED PASTOft. 375 

care of that. He who imposes duty has the fulness 
of the Spirit, and can give men hearts to obey his 
laws. Do you think Christ will suffer all men to 
be as cruel, unmerciful, and self seeking as you? 
He who has undertaking himself the work of our 
redemption, borne our transgressions, and been 
faithful as the chief Shepherd and Teacher of the 
church, will not lose all his labour and sufferings 
for want of instruments to carry on his work ; nor 
will he come down again to do all himself, because 
no other will do it : but he will provide men to be 
his servants and ushers in his school, who shall 
willingly take the labour on them, and rejoice to 
be so employed, and account that the happiest life 
in the world which you account so great a toil, nor 
Would they change it for all your ease and carnal 
pleasure ; but, on the contrary, for the saving of 
souls, and the propagating of the gospel of Christ, 
they will be content to bear the burden and heat of 
the day, to fill up the measure of the sufferings of 
Christ in their bodies, to do what they do with all 
their might, to work while it is day, to be the ser- 
vants of all, not to please themselves but others for 
their edification, to become all things to all men 
that they may save some, to endure all things for 
the elect's sake ; and to spend and be spent for men 
though the more they love the less they should be 
beloved, and should be accounted their enemies for 
telling them the truth ; with such pastors will Christ 



376 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 6, 

provide his people after his own heart, who will 
feed them with knowledge, as men that seek not 
theirs but them. What, do you think Christ can 
have no servants, if such as you, with Demas, turn 
to the present world, and forsake him ? If you 
dislike his service, you may seek you a better 
where you can find it, and boast of your gain in the 
conclusion; but do not threaten him with the loss 
of your service. He has made such laws as you 
will call severe for all who will be saved as well as 
for his ministers, though he impose not on them the 
same employment ; for all must deny themselves, 
mortify the flesh , be crucified to the world, and 
take up their cross daily, and follow Christ, who 
will be his disciples. And yet Christ will not be 
without disciples, nor will he hide what some call 
his hard terms from men, to entice them to his 
service, but will tell them of the worst and then 
let them chuse. He will call to them beforehand 
to count what it will cost them, and tell them that 
'Vthe foxes have holes, and the birds of the air 
have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to 
lay his head." He comes not to give them world- 
ly peace and prosperity, but to call them to suffer 
with him, that they may reign with him, and in 
patience to possess their souls, and to conquer 
that they may be crowned with him, and sit down 
on his throne ; and all this he will enable his fol- 
lowers to perform. If you be at that pass with 



Chap. 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 377 

Christ as the Israelites were once with David* 
and say, " Will the son of Jesse give you fields 
and vineyards ? Every man to your tents, O 
Israel." And if you say, " Now look to thy own 
house, O David," you shall see that Christ will 
look to his own house ; and do you look to yours 
as well as you can, and tell me at the hour of 
death or judgment which is the better bargain, 
and whether Christ had more need of you or 
you of him. 

With regard to scrupling it in conscience for 
fear of failing, it is not involuntary imperfections 
that Christ takes so heinously, but unfaithfulness 
and wilful negligence : and it will not serve your 
turn to run out of the vineyard on pretence of 
scruples that you cannot do the work as you ought. 
He can follow } t ou, and overtake you, as he did 
Jonas, with such a storm as will lay you in the 
belly of hell. Totally to cast off a duty because 
you cannot endure to be faithful in the perform- 
ance of it, will prove but a poor excuse at last. If 
men had but reckoned well at first of the differ- 
ence between things temporal and eternal, and of 
what they shall lose or get by Christ, and had 
that faith which is the evidence of things not seen, 
and lived by faith and not by sense, all these objec- 
tions would be easily resolved ; and ail the pleas 
of flesh and Wood would appear to have no more 

i i 2 



378 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap, 6. 

reason than a sick man's plea for cold water in a 
pestilential fever. 

5. It is objected, l But to what purpose is all 
this, when most of the people will not submit ? 
Therefore we had as good let them alone as trou- 
ble ourselves to no purpose.' 

Ans. (1.) It is not to be denied that too many 
people are obstinate in their wickedness, too many 
simple ones love simplicity, and too many scorners 
delight in scorning, and fools hate knowledge* 
But the worse they are the more deplorable is 
their case, the more to be pitied, and the more 
diligent should we be for their recovery. 

(2.) 1 fear it is too much owing to the conduct 
of ministers, that a great part of the people are 
so obstinate and contemptuous. Did we shine 
and burn before them as we should, had we con- 
vincing sermons and convincing lives, did we set 
ourselves to do them all the good in our power 
whatever it cost us, were we more humble and 
meek, more loving and charitable, and let them 
see that we set light by all worldly things in com- 
parison of their salvation, much more might be 
done than is, and the mouths of many would be 
stopped ; though still the wicked will do wicked- 
ly, yet more would be tractable, and the wicked 
would be fewer and calmer than they are. If you 
say that the ablest and most godly ministers in 
the world have had as untractable and scornful 



Chap. 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 379 

parishioners as any others ; I answer, that even 
able, godly men, have some of them been too 
lordly and strange, and some of them too un- 
charitable, and worldly, and backward to difficult 
though necessary works ; and some of them have 
done but little in private, when they have done 
excellently in public, and so have hindered the 
fruit of their labours. But where these hinder- 
ances have not had place, experience tells us that 
the success is much greater, at least as to the 
bowing of people to more calmness and teach- 
ableness ; but we cannot expect that all should. 

(3.) Their wilfulness will not excuse us from 
our duty. If we do not offer them our help, how 
do we know who will refuse it ? Offering it is 
our part, and accepting is theirs. If we offer it 
not, we leave them excusable, and we are without 
excuse ; but if they refuse our help when it is 
offered, we have done our part, and delivered our 
own souls. 

(4.) If some refuse our help, others will accept 
it ; and the success with them may be so much 
as to repay all our labour. All are not wrought 
on by our public preaching, and yet we must not 
on that account give it over. 

(5.) It is objected, c But what probability is 
there that men will be informed or converted by 
this mean who are not by the preaching of the 
word, when that is God's chief ordinance appoint- 



380 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 6. 

ed to that end ? Faith comes by hearing, and 
hearing by the word preached.' 

Ans. (1.) The advantages I have shewed you 
before, and therefore will not stand to repeat 
them ; only, lest any think that this will wrong 
them, by hindering them from preaching, I add 
to the twenty benefits before mentioned, that it 
will be an excellent mean to help you in preach- 
ing. For as the physician's work is half done 
when he fully knows the disease, so when you 
are well acquainted with your people's case, you 
will know what to preach on ; and it will furnish 
you with matter, to talk an hour with an ignorant 
or obstinate sinner, as much as an hour's study 
will do ; for you will know what you have need 
to insist on, and what objections of theirs to re- 
fute. 

(2.) I hope there is none so ignorant as to think 
personal instruction is not preaching. Does the 
number we speak to make it preaching ; or does 
interlocution make it none ? Surely a man may 
as truly preach to one as to a thousand ; and, as 
has already been hinted, if you search you will 
find that most of the gospel preaching was by con- 
ference, or serious speeches to people occasion- 
ally, and frequently interlocutory ; aad that with 
one, two, or more, as opportunity served. Thus 
Christ himself most commonly preached. Be- 
sides, .we must take an account how our people 



Chap. 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 3-81 

learn what they have been taught, if we regard 
the success of our work. 

There is nothing therefore from God, from the 
Spirit, nor from right reason, to cause us to make 
any question of our work, or to be unwilling to 
engage in it ; but from the world, the flesh, and 
the devil, we shall have much, and more perhaps 
than we yet expect, But against all temptations, 
if we have recourse to God, and look on his great 
obligations on one hand, and the hopeful effects 
and reward on the other, we shall see that we 
have no cause either to draw back or to faint 

Let us follow the example of St. Paul, to serve 
the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many 
tears ; to keep back nothing that is profitable to the 
people, and to teach them publicly and from house 
to house ; that the matter of our preaching be re* 
pentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus 
Christ; that though we go bound in the Spirit, not 
knowing particularly what shall befal us, but only 
that every where bonds and afflictions await us, yet 
none of these things shall move us, neither will we 
count our life dear, so that we may finish our course 
with joy, and the ministry which we have received 
of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace 
of God ; to take heed to ourselves and all the flock, 
particularly against domestic seducers and schims, 
without ceasing to warn every one day and night 
with tears ; to covet no man's silver, or gold, or 



382 reformed pastor. [Chap. 6, 

apparel, as counting it more honourable to give than 
to receive. O what a lesson is here before us ; but 
how ill is it learned by those who still question whe- 
ther all this be their duty. I confess some of these 
words of Paul have so often been presented before 
my eyes, and stuck upon my conscience, that 1 have 
been deeply convinced by them both of my duty 
and negligence : and I think this one speech better 
deserves a twelve months study than most things 
that young students lay out their time in. O breth- 
ren, write it on your own study doors, or set it as 
your copy in capital letters still before your eyes I 
Could we but properly learn two or three lines of it 
what preachers we should be! — (1.) Our general 
business, Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, 
— (2.) Our special work, Take heed to yourselves 
and to all the flock.- — (3) Our doctrine, Repentance 
towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. — 
(4.) The place and manner of teaching, / have 
taught you publicly and from house to house. — (5.) 
The object and internal manner, I ceased not to 
warn every one night and day with tears. This is it 
that must win souls and preserve them. — (6.) His 
innocence and self-denial for the advantage of the 
gospel, / have coveted no man's silver or gold. — (7.) 
His patience, None of these things move me, neither 
count I my life dear. — (8.) And among all our mo- 
tives, these have need to be strikingly placed before 
our eyes ; We oversee and feed the church of God, 



Chap. 6.] REFORMED PASTOR. 383 

. which he has purchased with his own blood — Griev- 
ous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the 
flock — Of your own selves shall men arise, speaking 
perverse things, to draw away disciples after. them,. 

Write all this upon your hearts, and it will do 
yourselves and the church more good than twenty 
years' study of lower things, which, though they 
may gain you greater applause in the world, yet, 
separate from these, will make you but sounding 
brass and tinkling cymbals. 

The great advantage of our having a sincere 
heart is, that God and glory, and the saving of souls, 
are then our immediate end ; and where that end is 
truly intended, no labour or suffering will stop or 
turn us back. Then we retain this lesson, whatev- 
er we forget, One thing is necessary — Seek first the 
kingdom of "God ; and therefore say, "Necessity is 
laid upon me, and woe unto me if I preach not the 
gospel !" This it is that will most effectually make 
easy all our labours, make light all our burdens, 
make all our sufferings seem tolerable, and cause 
us to venture on any hazard in the way. That 
which I once made the motto of my colours in 
another warfare, I desire may be still before my 
eyes in this, which yet, according to my intention, is 
not altogether another. On one side, He that saveth 
his life shall lose it ; on the other, Necpropter vitam 
vivendi, perdere causas. This, Dr. Reignolds 
thought, had reason enough in it to hold him to his 



384 reformed pastor. [Chap. 7, 

labours, though it cost him his life. He who knows 
that he serves a God that will never suffer any 
man to be a loser by him, need not fear what hazard 
he runs in his cause : and he who knows that he 
seeks a prize which if obtained, will infinitely over- 
match his cost, may boldly engage his whole estate 
on it, and sell all to purchase so rich a pearl. 

Brethren, I will spend no more words in exhort- 
ing wise merchants to such a bargain, or telling 
teachers themselves of such common truths ; and 
if I have said more than needs already, 1 am glad. 
I hope now 1 may take it for granted that you are 
resolved on the utmost diligence and fidelity in the 
work, on which supposition I shall now proceed, 



CHAP. VI r. 

Directions to the less experienced for the proper man- 
agement of this work. How to bring the people to 
submit to it — To do it in the manner that is most likely 
to insure success — For the conversion of the ungodly, 
and awakening of the secure. 

It is so happy a work which we have before us, 
that it is a thousand pities it should be destroyed in 
the birth, and perish in our hands. Though I 
know we have a knotty generation to deal with, and 
that it is past the power of any of us to change a 



Chap. 7.] REFORMED PASTOR. 585 

carnal heart without the effectual grace of the Holy 
Ghost ; yet it is so usual with God to work by 
means, and to bless the right endeavours of his ser- 
vants, that I cannot fear but great things will be 
done, and a wonderful blow given to the kingdom 
of darkness by our work, if it do not miscarry 
through the fault of the ministers themselves. The 
chief danger is, want of diligence and skill. Of 
the former I have spoken much already. As for 
the latter, I am so conscious of my own unskilful- 
ness, that I am far from imagining myself fit to give 
directions to any but the younger and unexperien- 
ced in the work of the ministry ; and therefore 
you will suppose me now to speak to none but such. 
I cannot pass over this part in silence, because the 
number of such is great, and I am persuaded that 
the welfare of the church and nation greatly de- 
pends on the management and success of this work. 
The points wherein you have need to be solicit- 
ous are two: — (1.) To bring your people to sub- 
mit to this course of private instruction : for if 
they will not come near you, what good can they 
receive? — (2.) To do the work so as may most 
tend to the success of it when they do come. 

I. With respect to the firsts the best directions 
that I can give are the following. 

1. The chief means of all is, for a minister so 
to behave himself in the main course of his minis- 

Kk 



386 reformed pastor. [Chap. 7. 

try and life as may tend to convince his people of 
his ability, sincerity and unfeigned love to them - % 
for if they take him to be ignorant, they will de- 
spise his teaching, and think themselves as wise as 
he. If they think him self-seeking, or hypocritic- 
al, they will suspect all that he says and does for 
them, and will not regard him. If they think he 
intends but to domineer over their consciences, or 
to trouble them, or merely to exercise their wit and 
memory, they will flee away from him as from an 
adversary, and from his endeavours as hurtful and 
disgusting. Whereas, when they are convinced 
that he understands what he does, and have high 
thoughts of his abilities, they will reverence him, 
and the more readily stoop to his advice. When 
they are persuaded of his uprightness, they will 
the less suspect the steps he may take for their ed- 
ification ; and when they perceive that he intends 
no private ends of his own, but merely their good, 
they will the sooner be persuaded by him. Be- 
cause those to whom 1 write are supposed not to be 
the most able ministers, and therefore ma}' despair 
of being reverenced for their parts, I say to such : 
— (1.) You have the more need to study and la- 
bour for their increase. — (2.) You must necessa- 
rily have that which makes the lowest degree tol- 
erable ; and it will produce some reverence when 
they know you are wiser than themselves. — (3.) 
And that which you want in ability must be made up 



Chdp. 7.] REFORMED PASTOR. 387 

in the other qualifications, and then your advice 
may be as successful as others. 

If ministers would condescend to their people, 
and be familiar and loving with them, prudent in 
their carriage among them, and, according to their 
ability, abound in good works, they might do much 
more than usually they do. Not that we should much 
regard an interest in them fbr our own sakes ; but 
that we may be more capable of promoting the in- 
terest of Christ, and of furthering their salvation. 
Were it not for their own sakes, it were no great 
matter whether threy love or hate us. But what 
commander can do any great service by an army that 
hates him ? And how can we think that they will re- 
gard our counsel, while they abhor or disregard the 
persons who give it ? Labour, therefore, for some 
competent interest in your people's esteem and af- 
fection, and then you may the better prevail with 
them. 

Obj. But what should a minister do who finds he 
has quite lost his people's esteem and affection ? 

Ans. If they be so vile a people that they hate 
him not for any weakness, nor through misreports 
about particular things, but merely for endeavour- 
ing their good, though in prudence as well as 
zeal, and would hate any other that should do his 
duty ; then must he in patience and meekness con- 
tinue to instruct those who oppose themselves, if 
God peradventure will give them repentance to 
the acknowledgement of the truth. But if it be 



388 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 7. 

upon any weaknesses of his, or difference in lesser 
opinions, or prejudice merely against his own per- 
son^let him try first to remove the prejudice by all 
lawful means ; and if he cannot, let him tell them, 
'It is not for myself but for you, that I labour ; 
and, therefore, seeing that you will not obey the 
word from me, I desire that you will agree to ac- 
cept of some other that may do you that good which 
I cannot :' and so leave them, and try whether 
another man may not be fitter for them, and he for 
another people, s An ingenuous man can hardly 
stay with a people against their wills ; and a sincere 
man can more hardly, for any interest of his own, 
remain in a place where he is likely to be unprofit- 
able, to hinder the good which they might receive 
♦from another man, who has the advantage of a 
greater interest in their estimation and affection. 

2. Supposing then this general preparation, the 
next thing to be done is, to use the' most effect- 
ual means to convince them of the benefit and 
necessity of this mode of instruction for their own 
souls. The way to win the consent of any man 
to what you offer him, is to prove it to be good 
for him, and to do this by evidence suited to his 
understanding ; for if you cannot make him be- 
lieve that it is good or necessary for him, he will 
not receive it. You must therefore preach to 
them some plain and convincing sermons to this 
purpose beforehand, which shall fully shew them 



Ckctp. 7.] REFORMED PASTOR. 389 

the benefit and necessity of the knowledge of di- 
vine truthsin general, and of knowing the first 
principles in particular m r and that the aged have 
as much need as others, and in some respects 
much more. Heb. v. 12, affords us many ob- 
servations suitable to our business. — As, (1.) That 
God's oracles must be man's lessons. — (2.) Minis- 
ters must teach these, and people must learn 
them. — (3.) The oracles of God have some fun- 
damentals, which all must know who will be sav- 
ed. — (4.) These fundamentals must be first learn- 
ed. — (5.) It may be expected that people will 
grow in knowledge, according to the means or 
teaching which they possess ; and if they do not, 
it is their sin. — (6.) If any have lived long in 
the church under the means of knowledge, and 
yet be ignorant of these first principles, they have 
need to be taught them again. All this is plain 
from the text, whence we have a fair opportunity 
by twenty clear and convincing reasons, to shew 
them the necessity of knowing God's oracles, 
especially the first principles ; in particular for 
the aged, who have lost so much time already, 
have long promised to repent when they were old, 
should now have been teachers of others, and 
whose ignorance therefore is a double sin and 
shame. Convince them how impossible it is to 
walk in the way to heaven without knowing it, 
when there are so many difficulties and enemies 

Kk2 



390 REFORMED £AST0R< [Chap. 7, 

in their way. Men cannot do their worldly busi- 
ness without knowledge, nor learn a trade without 
an apprenticeship. Who can love, or seek, or 
desire that which he knows not ? Convince them 
what a contradiction it is to be a christian, and yet 
to refuse to learn. For what is a christian but a 
disciple of Christ, and how can he be his disciple 
who refuses to be taught by him? They who re- 
fuse to be taught by his ministers refuse to be 
taught by him ; for Christ will not come down 
from heaven again to teach them by his own 
mouth, but has appointed his ministers to keep 
school and teach them under him. To say there- 
fore that they will not be taught by his ministers, 
is to say they will not be taught by Christ ; and 
that is to say they will be none of his disciples. 
Abundance of such undeniable evidences we have 
to convince them of their duty. Make them un- 
derstand that it is not an arbitrary business of our 
devising and imposing, but that necessity is laid 
upon us, and if we look not to every member of 
the flock according to our power, they may perish 
in their iniquities, but their blood will be required 
at our hands : it is God, and not we, who is the 
contriver and imposer of the work. Would they 
be so cruel as to wish a minister to lose his own 
soul for fear of troubling them, by striving to pre- 
vent their damnation ? Especially acquaint them 
fully with the true nature of the ministerial office. 



Chap. 7.] REFORMED PASTOR. 391 

the church's necessity of it, and that it consists in 
teaching and guiding all the flock ; shew them 
that they must come to the congregation as schol- 
ars to school, and must be content to give account 
of their learning, and be instructed man by man. — 
Let them know what a tendency this has to their 
salvation, what a profitable improvement it will 
be of their time, how much vanity and evil it will 
prevent ; and when they once find that it is for 
their own good, they will the more easily yield 
to it. 

3. When this is done, it will be necessary to 
give one of the catechisms to every family, poor 
and rich, that they may be so far without excuse ; 
for if you leave it to themselves, perhaps half of 
them will not get them. Whereas, when they are 
put into their hands, the receiving of them is a 
kind of engagement to learn them ; and if they do 
but read the exhortation, it will perhaps convince 
and excite them to submit. In delivering them> 
the best way is, for the minister first to give no- 
tice in the congregation that they shall be brought 
to their houses, and then to go himself from house 
to house and deliver them, and take that oppor- 
tunity of persuading them to the work ; and as 
you go, take a catalogue of all the persons at years 
of discretion in the several families, that you may 
know whom you have to take care of and instruct, 
and whom to expect when it comes to their turn. 



392 REFORMED PASTOR. [Clldp. 1 

If the minister be able it will be well for him to 
bear the charge of the books ; if not, the richer 
part of his people should bear it among them : 
er on a day of humiliation preparatory to the 
work, let the collection that is wont to be made 
for the poor be employed to buy catechisms, and 
the people desired to be the more liberal. As 
for the order of proceeding in small parishes, it 
is no great matter ; but in large ones it will be 
needful to take them in order, family by family 
beginning the execution a month or six weeks 
after the delivery of the books, that they may 
have time to learn; and thus taking them to- 
gether in common, they will the more willingly 
come. 

(4.) Be sure } r ou deal gently with them, and 
remove every discouragemet as effectually as you 
can. — (1.) Tell them publicly, that if they have 
learned any other catechism already, you will not 
urge them to learn this, unless they desire it 
themselves : for the substance of all catechisms 
that are orthodox is the same ; only our reason 
for offering them this, was its brevity and ful- 
ness, that we might give them as much as we 
could in few words. If any of them would rather 
learn any other orthodox catechism, let them have 
their choice. — (2.) As for old people of weak 
memories, who complain that they cannot remem- 
ber the w T ords ; tell them you do not expect that 



Chap. 7.] REFORMED PASTOR. 393 

they should perplex their minds about it, but hear 
it often read over, see that they understand it, 
and get the matter into their minds and hearts, 
and then they may be borne with, though they 
remember not the words. — (3.) And let your 
dealing with those whom you begin with, be so 
gentle, convincing and winning, that the report 
of it may be an encouragement to others to 
come. 

5. If all this will not serve to bring any partic- 
ular persons to submit, do not so cast them off; 
but go to them, and expostulate the case with 
them ; know what their reasons are, and con- 
vince them of the sinfulness and danger of their 
contempt of the help that is offered them. A soul 
is so precious, that we should not lose one for 
want of labour ; but follow them while there is 
any hope, and not give them up as desperate, 
till there be no remedy. Before we give them 
over as dogs or swine, let us try the utmost, that 
we may have the experience of their obstinate 
contempt or renting us to warrant our forsaking 
them. " Charity suffereth long, and is kind." 

II. Having used these means to procure them 
tp come in and submit to your teaching, the next 
thing to be considered is, how you should deal 
with them in the work : and again I must say, that 
I think it an easier matter by far to compose and 



394 reformed pastor. [Chap. 7, 

preach a good sermon, than to deal properly with 
an ignorant man for his instruction in the neces- 
sary principles of religion. Much as this work 
is contemned by some, I doubt not but it will try! 
the parts and spirits of ministers more fully than 
pulpit-preaching will do. Here I will transcribe 
the words of archbishop Usher : " Great schol- 
ars may possibly think it beneath them to spend 
so much of their time in teaching the first prin- 
ciples of the doctrine of Christ ; but they should 
consider that laying the foundation skilfully, as it 
is matter of the greatest importance in the whole 
building, so it is the very master-piece of the 
wisest builder. ' According to the grace of God 
which is given to me, as a wise master-builder I 
have laid the foundation,' says the great apostle. 
And let the most learned and wisest of us all try it 
whenever we please, we shall find, that to lay this 
ground-work properly, to apply ourselves to the 
capacity of our people individually, and to make an 
ignorant man understand the grounds of religion, 
will put us to the trial of our skill. Christ gave 
as well his apostles, and prophets, and evangelists, 
as his ordinary pastors and teachers, to bring us 
all, both learned and unlearned, to the unity of this 
faith and knowledge ; and the neglecting of this 
is the frustrating of the whole work of the minis- 
try : for, let us preach ever so many sermons to 
the people, our labour is but lost as long as the 



Chap. 7.] REFORMED PASTOR. 305 

foundation is unlaid, and the first principles un- 
taught, upon which all other doctrines must be 

built." 

The directions which I think necessary to be 
observed in managing the work, for matter and 
manner, are the following : 

1. When your neighbours Gome to you, one 
family or more, begin with a brief preface, to pre* 
>are them for the cordial reception of your in- 
structions. — ' Neighbours and brethren, it may per- 
laps seem to some of you an unusual and trouble- 
some business that I have put you upon ; but I 
hope you will not think it needless ; for if I had 
thought so, I should have spared you and myself 
this labour. But my conscience has told me, yea 
God has told me in his word, what it is to have the 
charge of men's souls, and how the blood of them 
that perish in their sins will be required at the 
hands of the minister who neglects them, that I 
dare not be guilty of it. Alas, all our business in 
this world is to get well to heaven ; and God has 
appointed us to be guides to his people, to help 
them safe thither. If this be well done, all is 
done ; and if this be not done, we are for ever un- 
done 1 The Lord knows how short a time you and 
I may be together ; and therefore it concerns us 
to do what we can for our own and your salvation, 
before we leave you, or you leave the world. All 
other employments in the world are but toys and 



396 reformed pastor. [Chap. 7. 

dreams in comparison of this. The labours of 
your calling are but to prop up the cottages of 
your flesh, while you are making ready for death 
and judgment, which God knows is near at hand. 
I hope therefore you iv 7 ill be glad of help in such a 
needful work, and not think it much that I put you 
to this trouble, when the trifles of the world can- 
not be got without greater trouble.' — This, or 
something to this purpose, may tend to make them 
more willing to hear you, and receive instruction, 
and give you an account of their knowledge and 
practice, which must be the work of the day. 

2. When you have spoken thus to them all, then 
take them one by one, and deal with them in pri- 
vate. For some cannot speak freely before oth- 
ers ; some cannot endure to be questioned before 
others, because they are ashamed to have them 
hear their answers ; and some who can give better 
answers will be readv when they are gone to tattle 
of what they heard, and to despise those who 
spake not so well as they did. You must therefore 
be very prudent to prevent all these inconve- 
niences. But the main reason is, as 1 find by ex- 
perience, people will better take plain ; close deal- 
ing, about their sin, and misery, and duty, when 
you have them alone, than they will before others ; 
and if you have not opportunity to set it home and 
deal freely with them, you will frustrate all. If 
therefore you have a convenient place, let the rest 



Chap. 7.] REFORMED PASTOR. 397 

stay in one room while you confer with each person 
separately in another ; only, in order to avoid the 
appearance of evil, we must speak to the women 
in the presence of some others : and if we do lose 
some advantage by it, with regard to the success 
of our instructions, there is no remedy ; better do 
so, than by giving occasion to those who are seek- 
ing it, destroy the whole work. Yet we may so 
contrive it as to let none be present but the mem- 
bers of the same family, or those who are most 
familiar, and therefore not likely to reproach one 
another. In your rouzing examinations and re- 
proofs address yourselves chiefly to the most igno- 
rant, secure, and vicious, that you may have the 
clearer ground for your closet dealing, and that the 
hearing of it may awaken the by-standers, to whom 
you seem not so directly to apply it. These 
small things deserve attention, because they are 
parts of a work that is not small ; and small errors 
may hinder a great deal of good. 

3. Begin your work by taking an account of 
what they have learned of the catechism, receiv- 
ing their answer to each question ; and if they are 
able to recite little or nons of it, try whether they 
can rehearse the creed and the decalogue. 

4. Then chuse out some of the weightiest points 
and try how they understand them. In so doing be 
careful, (1.) That you do not begin with less ne- 
cessary points, but these which they themselves 

L 1 



398 reformed pastor. [Chap. 7. 

may perceive do most nearly concern them : As, 
6 What do you think becomes of men after death ? 
Do you believe you have sin in you, that you were 
born in sin ; and what does sin deserve ? What 
remedy has God provided for guilty, miserable sin- 
ners ? Has any one suffered for our sins in our 
stead, or must we suffer for them ourselves ? Who 
are they whom God will pardon ? Who shall be 
saved by the blood of Christ ? What change must 
be made on all that shall be saved? How is it 
made ? Wherein consists our chief happiness ? 
What must our hearts be most set upon, and such 
like.' — (2.) Take heed of asking them nice, need- 
less, or doubtful and very difficult questions, though 
about matters that are of the greatest importance 
In themselves. Especially be very cautious how 
you put them upon definitions or descriptions. 
Some self-conceited men will be busy with ques- 
tions which they cannot answer themselves, and 
as censorious and severe with the poor people who 
^vho cannot answer them, as if life and death de- 
pended thereon. You will ask them perhaps what 
is God; and how defective an answer must you 
make yourselves ? You may tell what he is not 
sooner than what he is. If you ask, What is re- 
pentance, what is faith, or what is forgiveness of 
sin, how many ministers may you ask before you 
have a right answer, or else they would not differ 
so widely in their opinions on these points. So if 



CllCtp. 7.] REFORMED FA3TQR. 399 

you ask them what regeneration is, what sanctifica- 
tion is ? But you will perhaps say, ' If men know not 
what God is — what repentance, faith, conversion, 
justification and sanctiiication are, how can they be 
true christians ?' I answer, It is one thing to know 
exactly what they are, and another thing to know 
them in their nature and effects, though with a 
more general and indistinct knowledge ; and it is 
one thing to know, and another to tell what this or 
that is. The very name, as commonly used, signifies 
to them, and express from them the thing without a 
definition ; and they partly understand what that 
name signifies, when they cannot tell it you ic juiet 
words. As they know what it is to repent, to be- 
lieve, to be forgiven ; by custom of speech they 
know what these mean, and yet cannot define ihem. 
Yet I do not absolutely dissuade you from the use 
of such questions : but to do it cautiously, in case 
you suspect some gross ignorance in the point, es- 
pecially about God himself. — (3.) Tn such a case 
so contrive your question, that they may perceive 
what you mean, and that it is not a nice definition* 
but a necessary solution, you expect. Look not 
after words but things, and there leave them only 
a bare yea or nay, or the mere election of one of 
the two descriptions which you yourself shall pro- 
pound. As, ' What is God ? Is he made of flesh 
and blood as we are, or is he an invisible spirit 1 
Had he any beginning ? Can he die ? What is 



400 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 7. 

faith ? Is it a believing all the word of God ? What 
is it to believe in Christ ? Is it all one as to become 
a true christian ; or to believe that Christ is the 
Saviour of the world, and to accept him for your 
Saviour, to pardon, teach, govern, and glorify you ? 
What is repentance ? Is it only to be sorry for sin ; 
or is it the change of the mind from sin to God, or 
both ? — (4.) Where you perceive they understand 
not the stress of you question, you must lead them 
into it by other questions. So I have asked some, 
How do you think your many and great sins will be 
pardoned? And they tell me by their repenting 
and mending their lives, and never mention Jesus 
Christ. I ask them further, But do you think your 
amendment will make any satisfaction for your past 
sins ? They answer, 'We hope so, or else we 
know not what will V One would think now these 
had no knowledge of Christ at all : and some I find 
have indeed none. Hence, when I tell them the 
history of the gospel, and what Christ did and suf- 
fered, and why, they wonder at it as a strange 
thing that they had never heard before, and say 
they never heard this much till now, though 
they came to church every Lord's day. But others, 
I % perceive, give such answers, because they un- 
derstand not the scope of my question. And if I 
ask farther, Can you be saved without the death of 
Christ ? They say, « No.' And if I ask, What 
has he done or suffered for you ? They will say, 



Quip. 7.] REFORMED PASTOR. 401 

' He shed his blood for us ;' and will profess that 
they place their confidence in that for salvation. 
Many men have that in their minds which is not 
ripe for utterance, and through want of education 
and practice, they are strangers to the expressions 
of those things which they have some conceptions 
of: and, by the way, you may here see how need- 
ful it is to deal very tenderly with the common peo- 
ple for matter of knowledge and defect of expres- 
sion, if they are teachable and willing to use means 
and to live obediently ; for many, even aged, godly 
persons, cannot speak their minds in any tolerable 
expressions ; no, nor cannot learn when expres- 
sions are put into their mouths. Some of the most 
pious, experienced, and approved christians that I 
know, complain exceedingly to me with tears, that 
they cannot learn the words of the catechism ; and 
when I consider their advantages, that they have 
lived under the most excellent helps, in constant 
duty, and in the best company, forty, fifty, or sixty 
years together, it teaches me what to except from 
poor ignorant people who have not had such advan- 
tages, and not to reject them so hastily as some hot 
and too high professors would have us do. — (5.) 
When you find them at a loss, and perceive them 
troubled that they cannot answer, step in yourself 
and take the burden off them, answering the ques- 
tion yourself, and then do it thoroughly and plainly, 
and make a full explication of the whole business 

l 1 2 



402 FtEFORMED PASTOR, [Chap. 7 

to them, that by your teaching they may be brought 
to understand it before you leave them. 

5. Thus, when you have tried their knowledge 
proceed next to instruct them yourselves accord 
ing to their several capacities. If he be a profes- 
sor who understands the fundamentals, fall on 
what you perceive he most needs, either explain- 
ing further some of the doctrines of the gospel 
or some duty which he may doubt of, or shewing 
the necessity of what he neglects, as may be most 
convincing and edifying to him. If it be one that 
is grossly ignorant, give him a plain recital of the 
sum of the christian religion in a few words, as 
thus : " You must know, that from everlasting 
there was one only God, who had no beginning, 
and can have no end, who is not a body as we are, 
but a most pure, spiritual being, who knows all 
things, and can do all things, and has all goodness 
and blessedness in himself. This God is but one ; 
but yet three persons, the Father, the Son, and 
the Holy Ghost, in an incomprehensible man- 
ner, above our reach : yet we have somewhat in 
ourselves and other creatures that may give us 
some resemblance of it. As in a man, his power, 
and his understanding and will, are but one soul, 
and yet they are not one faculty, but differ one 
from another ; or as in the sun the being or pow- 
er, and the heat and the light, are not all one, and 
yet there is but one sun : so, in a more incompre- 



p. 7.] REFORMED PASTOR. 403 

hensible manner, it is in God. And you mrst 
know that this one God made all the world by his 
word ; the heavens he made to be the place of his 
glory, and made a world of holy angels to serve 
him in his glory ; but some of these, by pride or 
other sin, fell from God, and are become devils 
who shall be miserable in torments for ever. 
When he had made the rest of this lower worlds 
he made man. as his noblest creature here, even 
one man and one woman, Adam and Eve ; and he 
made them perfect without any sin or fault, and 
put them into the garden of Eden, and forbid 
them to eat but of one tree in the garden, and told 
them that if they did they should die : but the 
devil, who had first fallen himself, tempted them 
to sin, and they yielded to his temptation, and by 
wilfully sinning, they fell under the curse of God's 
law, and fell short of the glory of God. But God 
of his infinite wisdom and mercv sent his own Son 
Jesus Christ to be their Redeemer, who, as he 
was promised in the beginning, so in the fulness 
of time, 1800 years ago, was made man, and was 
born of a virgin by the power of the Holy Ghost. 
and lived on earth amons: the iews about 33 vears : 
and he preached the gospel himself, and wrought 
many miracles to prove his doctrine and bring 
men to believe in him, healing the lame, the blind. 
the sick, and raising the dead by the word of his 
mouth by his divine power ; and at the end. by 



404 REFORMED pastor, [Chap. ?, 

the malice of the jews and his own consent, he 
was offered upon the cross, as a sacrifice for our 
sins, to bear that curse that we should have borne ; 
and when he was buried, he rose again the third 
day, and lived on earth forty days after ; and be- 
fore his departure he sent his apostles and other 
ministers to preach the gospel of salvation to the 
world, and to call home lost sinners by repent- 
ance, and to assure them in his name, that if they 
will but believe in him, and take him for their 
Saviour, and unfeignedly lament their former sins, 
and turn from them to God, and will take everlast- 
ing glory for their portion, and be content to 
resign their carnal interests and desires, he will 
pardon freely all that is past, and be merciful to 
them for the time to come, and will lead them up 
into spiritual communion with God, and bring 
them to his glory when this life is ended : but for 
those who make light of their sios and of God's 
mercy, and will not forsake the pleasures of this 
world for the hopes of another, they shall be con- 
demned to everlasting punishment. This gospel 
Christ has appointed his ministers to preach to 
all the world ; and when he had given this in 
charge to his apostles, he ascended up into heaven 
before their faces, where he is now in glory with 
God the Father, in our nature, ruling all: and 
at the end of this world he will come again in that 
nature, and will call the dead to life a^ain, and set 



Chap. 7. J REFORMED PASTOR 



405 



them all before him to be judged ; and all that 
truly repented and believed in him, and were re- 
newed by his Spirit, and renounced this world for 
the hopes of a better, shall be judged to live with 
God in glory, and shall be like his angels, and 
praise him for ever ; and the rest that repented 
not, and believed not in him, but lived to the flesh 
and the world, shall be condemned to everlast- 
ing: misery. So that you may see by this that 
man's happiness is not in this world but in the 
next, and that all men have lost their hopes of 
that happiness by sin, and that Jesus Christ, the 
onlv Son of God, and the Redeemer of the world, 
has recovered it for us by the price of his blood, 
and has made a new covenant with us, assuring 
us of life and salvation, if we repent and believe 
in him for that life, and mortify our fleshly de- 
sires. To this end he sends foith his holy Spirit 
to convert all that shall be saved, and to turn their 
hearts from this world to God. If ever you 
mean to be saved, therefore it must be thus with 
you : your former sins must be the grief of your 
soul, and you must fly to a crucified Christ as 
your only refuge from the deserved curse ; and 
the Spirit of Christ must convert you, and dwell 
in you, and make you wholly a new creature, or 
there is no salvation.' And if you perceive they 
do not understand you, go over it again till they 
do j and if possible fix it in their memories. 



406 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 7* 

6. Whether they be grossly ignorant or not, in 
the next place make a prudent inquiry into their 
state ; and the best way will be by a few words to 
prepare their minds, and convince them of the ne- 
cessity of it. Suppose to this purpose : c You 
read in the scriptures of truth, that the Holy 
Ghost, by the word, enlightens men's minds, and 
softens and opens their hearts, and turns them 
from the power of Satan to God, by faith in Christ, 
thereby making them a sanctified, peculiar people, 
to God ; and that none but such are made partak- 
ers of Christ. Now though I have no desire need- 
lessly to pry into any man's state, yet because it is 
the office of ministers to give advice to people in 
the matters of salvation, and because it is so dan- 
gerous to be mistaken where life or death ever- 
lasting lies upon it, I would entreat you to deal 
truly, and tell me whether you ever found this 
great change wrought upon your heart or not ? 
Did you ever find the Spirit of God, by the word, 
come in upon your understanding with such pow- 
er, lis;ht, and life, as made you a new creature ? 
The Lord who sees your heart knows whether it 
be so or not ; therefore I pray you, see that you 
speak the truth!' If he tell you, he hopes he is 
converted — all are sinners — but he is sorry for his 
sins ; then tell him more particularly what true 
conversion is, and so renew and enforce the in- 
quiry thus : c Because your salvation or damnation 



Chap. 7.] REFORMED PASTOR. 407 

depends upon it, I would fain help you a little, that 
\ou mav not be mistaken in a business of such con- 
sequence, but may find out the truth before it be 
too late ; for, as God will judge us impartially, so 
we have his word before us, by which we may 
know now how God will judge us then ; for this 
word tells us most certainly who shall go to heav- 
en, and who to hell. Now the scripture tells us 
that the state of an unconverted man is this : he 
sees no great matter of felicity in the everlasting 
enjoyment of God in the life to come, which may 
draw his heart thither from this present world ; 
but he lives to himself, and the main bent of his 
life is, that it may go well with his body here. The 
world and flesh are highest in his esteem and near- 
est to his heart, and God and elorv stand below them 
and further off, and all his service of God is but 
giving him that which the world and rlesh can 
spare. This is the true case of every unconvert- 
ed man, and all who are in this state are in a state 
of misery. But he who is trulv converted has had 

*• *-■ 

a hght shining into his soul from God, which has 
shewed him the greatness of his sin and misery, 
and made it a heavy load upon his soul ; it has also 
shewed him Christ, and what he has done for sin- 
ners, and made him admire the riches of God's 
grace in him. what glad news is it to him, that 
yet there is hope for such lost sinners as he — that 
so many and so great sins may be pardoned — and 



408 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 7, 

that this is offered to all that will accept it ! How 
gladly does he entertain this message and offer : 
and for the time to come he resigns himself and all 
that he has to Christ, to be wholly his, and dis- 
posed of by him, in order to the everlasting glory 
which he has promised. He has now such a sight 
of the blessed state of the saints in glory, that he 
despises all this world as dross and dung in compar- 
ison of it, and there he lays up his happiness and 
his hopes, and takes all the matters of this life but 
as so many helps or hinderances in the way to that ; 
so that the very bent and main care and business of 
his life is to be happy in the life to come. This is 
the case of all that are truly converted and shall be 
saved. Is this your case or not ? Have you found 
such a change as this upon your soul V If he say 
he hopes he has, descend to some particulars.— 
' I pray you then answer these two or three ques- 
tions : — (1.) Can you truly say that all the known 
sins of your past life are the grief of your heart, 
that you have felt everlasting misery is due to you 
for them, and that in the sense of this heavy bur- 
den you have felt yourself a lost man, and have 
gladly entertained the news of a Saviour, and cast 
your soul upon Christ alone for pardon by his 
blood. — (2.) Can you truly say that your heart is 
s6 far turned from your former sins, that you hate 
the sins which formerly you loved, and love that 
holy life which you had no mind to before, and that 



CllCtp. 7.] REFORMED PASTOR. 409 

you do not now live in the wilful practice of any 
known sin. Is there no sin which you are not 
heartily willing to part with whatever it cost you, 
and no duty which you are not willing to perform ? 
— (3.) Can you truly say that you have so far 
taken the everlasting enjoyment of God for your 
happiness, that it has the most of your heart, of 
your love, desire and care ; and that you are re- 
solved by the strength of grace to let go all you 
have in this world rather than hazard it, and that 
it is your daily and principal business to seek it ? 
Can you truly say that, though you have your fail- 
ings, yet your main care and the bent of your 
whole life is to please God and enjoy him for 
ever ; and that your worldly business is but as a 
traveller seeking provision in his journey, and 
heaven is your home.' If he say yea to the first 
and third, tell him how great a thing it is for a 
man's heart to abhor his sin, unfeignedty to lay up 
his happiness in another world, and to live in this 
world for one that is out of sight ; and therefore de- 
sire him to see that it be so indeed. If he say yea 
to the second question, then read over some of 
those duties which you most suspect him to omit ; 
and ask him whether he performs such or such a 
duty, especially family and private prayer, and 
the holy spending of all the Lord's day. 

7. When you have by these inquiries into his 
spiritual state reason to conclude that he is yet 

m m 



410 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 7. 

unconverted, your next business is to endeavour 
with all your skill and power to bring his heart 
to a gense of his condition. — c Truly, neighbour, 
I have no desire, the Lord knows, to make your 
condition worse than it is, nor to fill you with un- 
necessary fear and trouble : but I suppose you 
would take me for a flattering enemy, and not a 
faithful friend, if I should daub you, and not tell 
you the truth. If you sought to a physician in 
your sickness, you would wish him to tell you the 
truth, though it were the worst. Much more 
here : for there the knowledge *of your disease 
might by fears be increased ; but here you must 
know it, or else you can never be recovered from 
it. I much fear that }^ou are yet a stranger to 
the new life of all those whom Christ will save: 
for if you were truly converted your very heart 
would be set on God and the life to come, you 
would admire the riches of grace in Christ, you 
would make it your business to prepare for eter- 
nity, and you durst not, you would not live in 
any wilful sin, nor in the neglect of known du- 
ties. Alas, what have you done, how have you 
spent } r our time till now ! Did you not know 
that you had a soul to save or lose, and that you 
must live in heaven or hell for ever, and that you 
had your life and time in this world to prepare 
for heaven ? Alas, what have you been doing all 
this while, that you are so ignorant, and so un~ 



OlQp. 7.] REFORMED PASTOR* 411 

prepared for death if it should now find you! If 
you had but as much minded heaven as earth, 
you would have known more of it, done more for 
it, and inquired more diligently after it than you 
have. You can iearn how to do your business in 
the world, and why could you not have learned 
more of the will of God ? You have neighbours 
that could learn more, who have had as much to 
do in the world as you, and as little time. Do 
you think that heaven is not w T ortli your labour,, 
or that it can be had without care and pains, when, 
you cannot have the trifles of this world without 
seeking after them, and when God has commanded 
you first to seek his kingdon and the righteous- 
ness thereof? Alas, neighbour, w r hat if you had 
died before this hour in an unconverted state ! 
What had become of you, and where had you 
new been ? Why you did not know all this while 
that you should live a day to an end. O that ever 
you should be so cruel to yourself as to venture 
your everlasting state so desperately as you have 
done ! What did you think of? Did you not all 
this while know that you must shortly die, and 
be judged as you were then^bund ? Had j'ou any 
greater work to do, or any greater business to 
mind than your salvation ? Do you think that 
all you can get in this world will comfort you in 
a dying hour, or purchase your salvation, or ease 
the pains of hell fire V — Set these things home 



4* 2 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 7, 

with a more earnest voice than the former part of 
your discourse ; for if you get not to the heart, 
you do nothing. 

8. Conclude the whole with a practical exhor- 
tation, which must contain two parts : — (!.) The 
duty of the heart, in order to a closure with Christ, 

and what is contained in that closure. (2.) The 

use of external means for the time to come, and the 
avoiding of former sins.— 4 Neighbour, I am hearti- 
ly sorry to find you in so sad a case, but I should 
be more sorry to leave you in it ; and therefore 
let me entreat you for the Lord's sake, and for 
your own sake, to regard what I shall say to you 
for the time to come. It is the Lord's great mer- 
cy that he did not cut you off in your unconverted 
state, that you have yet life and time, and that 
there is a sufficient remedy provided for your soul 
in the blood of Christ ; and he is yet offered with 
pardon and life to you as well as others. God has 
not left sinful man to utter desperation for want of 
a ransom by a Redeemer as he has done the devils, 
nor has he made any exception in the offer and' 
promise of pardon and life against you any more 
than against others. If you had yet but a bleeding 
heart for sin, and would come to Christ believino-- 
ly for recovery, and resign yourself to him as your 
Saviour and Lord, the Lord would have mercy on 
you, pardon your sins, and save your soul ; and I 
must tell you, that as it must be the work of God's 



Chap. 7.] REFORMED ?ASTO?.. 413 

grace to give you such a heart, so, if ever he par- 
don and save you, he will work this change in you 
that I have mentioned : he will make you feel your 
sin as the heaviest burden in the world, as that 
which is most odious in itself, and has laid you 
open to the curse of God : he will make you see 
that you are a lost man, and that there is no way 
but one for you, everlasting damnation, unless you 
are pardoned by the blood of Christ, and sanctified 
by his Spirit : he will make you see the need you 
have of Christ, and how much you are beholden 
to him for the shedding of his blood, and how all 
your hope and life is in him : he will make you see 
the vanity of this world and all that it can afford 
you, and that all your happiness is with God, in 
that everlasting life, where, with saints and angels ? 
you may behold his glory, and live in his presence, 
and praise him for ever, when those who reject 
him shall be tormented with the devils : and be- 
cause it is only Christ the Redeemer that can bring 
you to that glory, and deliver you from that tor- 
ment, he will make you look to him as your hope 
and life, cast your burdened soul upon him, and 
give yourself up to be saved, and taught, and 
ruled by him ; and he will possess you with the 
spirit of holiness, that your heart shall be set upon 
God and heaven as your treasure, and the care of 
your mind, and the business of your life, shall be to 
obtain it ; and you shall despke this world, deny 

m m & 



414 REFORMED PASTOR. \Chaf. 7. 

yourself, and cast away the sin with abhorrence 
which you delighted in ; and count no pains too 
great, nor no suffering too dear, for the obtaining 
of that everlasting life. Let me tell you, that till 
this work is done, you are a miserable man ; and 
if you die before it is done, you are lost for ever. 
Now you have hope and help before you, but then 
there will be none. Let me therefore entreat 
these two or three things of you, and do not deny 
them me as you love your soul : — (1.) That you 
will not rest in this condition. Be not quiet in 
your mind till you find a true conversion wrought. 
Think when you rise in the morning, O what if 
this day should be my last, and death should find 
me in an unrenewed state ! Think when you are 
about your labour, O how much greater work have 
I to do, to get my soul reconciled to God and pos- 
sessed of his Spirit! Think when you are eating, 
or drinking, or looking on any thing that you pos- 
sess in the world, What good will all this do me 
if I live and die an enemy to God, a stranger to 
Christ and his Spirit, and so perish for ever. Let 
these thoughts be day and night upon your mind 
till your soul be changed. — (2.) Think seriously 
what a vain thing this world is, and how shortly it 
will leave you to a cold grave, and to everlasting 
misery, if you have not a better treasure. Think 
what it is to live in the presence of God, to reign 
with Christ, and be like the angels ; and that this 



CJuijK 7.] REFORMED PASTOR. 415 

is the life that Christ has procured you, and is pre- 
paring for you, and freely offers you, if you will 
accept it in and with himself, upon his easy and 
reasonable terms. Think whether it be not mad- 
ness to slight such endless glory, and to prefer 
these fleshly dreams and earthly shadows before it. 
Use yourself to such considerations as these when 
you are alone, and let them dwell upon your mind. 
— (3.) Presently, without any more delay, accept 
of this felicity, and this Saviour. Close with the 
Lord Jesus, who offers you this eternal life. Joy- 
fujly and thankfully accept his offer as the only 
way to make you happy ; and then you may be- 
lieve that all your sin3 shall be done away by 
him. — (4.) Resolve presently against your former 
sins ; find out what has defiled your heart and life, 
and cast it away by repentance, as you would poi- 
son out of your stomach, and abhor the thought of 
taking it in again. — (5.) Set yourself closely to the 
use of God's means till this change be wrought, 
and then continue his means till you are confirmed, 
and at last perfected. Because you cannot of your- 
selves make this change in your heart and life, ap- 
ply daily to God for it ; and beg earnestly, as for 
your life, that he will pardon all your sins, change 
your heart, shew you the riches of his grace in 
Christ, and the glory of his kingdom, and draw up 
your heart to himself. Follow God day and night 
with these requests. Fly from temptations and 



416 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap, fa 

occasions of sin, and forsake your former evil com- 
pany, and associate with those who fear God, and 
will help you in the way to heaven. Especially 
spend the Lord's day in holy exercis-es, both public 
and private, and lose not one quarter of an hour 
of your time, particularly of that most precious 
time which God has given you purposely that you 
may set your mind upon him, be instructed by him* 
and to prepare yourself for your latter end. What 
say you ? Will you do this presently, at least so 
much of it as you can ? Will you promise me to 
think of these things that I have mentioned, and 
to pray daily for a change of heart till you have 
obtained it, and to change your company and cours- 
es, and fall upon the use of God's means in read- 
ing and hearing the scriptures, and meditating od 
them, especially on the Lord's day V And here 
be sure if you caji to get their promise to forsake 
sin, change their company, and use the appointed 
means, and in this way to wait for that change, with- 
out which, they must perish ; and do this solemn- 
ly, reminding them of the presence of God, who 
hears their promises, and will expect the perform- 
ance. 

9. Before you dismiss them, add a few words to 
this effect : < I pray you take it not ill that I have 
put you to this trouble, or dealt thus freely with 
you ! It is as little pleasure to me as to you. If I did 
aot know these things to be true and necessary, I 



Oiap. 7.] REFORMED PASTOR. 417 

would have spared this labour to myself and you. 
But I know that we shall be here but a little while 
— we are almost at the next world already — and 
therefore it is time for us all to look about us, and 
see that we be ready when God shall call us.' Put 
them in a way for perfecting what is begun. En- 
gage the head of each family, to call all his family 
to give an account every Lord's-day evening, be- 
fore they go to bed, what they can rehearse of the 
catechism, and so to continue till they have all 
learned it perfectly ; and when they have done so, 
yet still to continue to hear them recite it, that 
they may not forget it : for even to the most judi- 
dicious, it will be an excellent help to have still in 
memory a sum of the christian doctrine, for matter, 
method, and words. As for the rulers of families 
themselves, or those who are under such rulers 
as will not help them, if they have learned some 
small part of the catechism only, engage them 
either to come again to you, when they have learn- 
ed the rest, or else to go to some experienced 
neighbour and recite it to them, that they may 
have their assistance when they cannot have yours. 
10. Have all the names of your parishioners by 
you in a book ; and when they come and recite the 
catechism, note in your book who come, and who 
do not ; and who are so ignorant as to be utterly 
unfit for the Lord's supper and other holy commun» 



418 REFORMED PASTOR. [Clldf. 7, 

ion, and who not. As you perceive the necessities 
of each, so deal with them for the future. 

1 1. Through the whole course of your confer- 
ence with them, see that the manner as well as the 
matter be suited to the end. Concerning: the man- 
ner observe these particulars : — (1.) Speak differ- 
ently, according to the difference of the persons 
you have to deal with. To the dull and obstinate 
you must be more earnest and sharp ; to the tender 
and timorous that are already humbled, you must 
rather insist on direction and confirmation ; to the 
young you must point out the danger of worldly 
and sensual pleasures, and shew them the nature 
and necessity of mortification ; to the aged you 
must shew the vanity of this present world, and 
make them apprehensive of the nearness of their 
change, and the aggravations of their sin, if they 
live and die in ignorance and impenitence ; to in- 
feriors, and the younger sort, you must be more 
free ; to superiors and elders, more respectful ; to 
the rich the deceitfulness of riches, and the nature 
and necessity of self-denial must be opened, and 
the dreadful consequence of preferring present 
prosperity to future happiness, as also the neces- 
sity of improving their talents in well-doing ; to 
the poor, shew the riches of glory which are pro- 
pounded to them in the gospel, and how well pres- 
ent things may be spared where those may be se- 
cured. Also those sins must be most insisted on 



Chap. 7.] REFORMED FASTOR. 419 

to which their age, sex, or calling and employment 
in the world most exposes them.— (2.) Be as con- 
descending, familiar, and plain, as is possible, with 
those who are of a weaker capacity. — (3.) Give 
them scripture proof for all you say, that they 
may see it is not you only, but God by you that 
speaks to them.— (4.) Be as serious in all, but 
especially in the applicatory part, as you can. I 
scarcely fear any thing more, than lest some minis- 
ters should slubber over the work, and do it super- 
ficially and without life, and destroy this, as they 
clo all other duties, by turning it into mere formal- 
ity ; putting a few cold questions to them, and giving 
them two or three cold words of advice, without 
any life and feeling in themselves, and therefore 
not likely to produce any in the hearers. But sure- 
ly he who values souls, and knows what an cp* 
portunity is before him, will apply himself to it 
with all his might.— (5.) To this end I think it very 
necessary that we, both before and in the work, 
take special pains with our own hearts : especially 
to excite and strengthen our belief of the truth of 
the gospel, and the invisible glory and misery that 
is come. I am confident this work will exceeding- 
ly try the strength of our faith ; for he that is su- 
perficially a christian, and not sound in the faith, 
will likely feel his zeal quite fail him, especially 
when the duty becomes common, for want of a 
proper sense of the things which he is to treat of, 



420 HEFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 7. 

to keep it alive. An affected fervency will not 
hold out in such duties long. The pulpit will have 
more of them than a conference with poor igno- 
rant souls ; for the pulpit is the hypocritical min- 
ister's stage. There, in the press, and in the pub- 
lic acts, where there is room for ostentation, you 
are sure to have his best, and almost all. It is other 
kind of men that must effectually do the work now 
in hand. — (6.) It is therefore highly necessary that 
we prepare ourselves for it by private prayer, and 
that we begin and end with a short prayer with our 
people. — (7.) Carry on all, even the most earnest 
passages, in clear demonstrations of love to their 
souls, and make them feel through the whole that 
you aim at nothing but their salvation. — (8.) If you 
have not time to deal so fully with each one in par- 
ticular as is here directed, then omit not the most 
necessary parts ; take several of them together that 
are friends, and will not seek to divulge each other's 
weaknesses, and speak to them in common as much 
as concerns all ; only the examinations of their 
knowledge and state, and convictions of misery and 
special directions, must be used to the individuals 
alone : but take heed of slubbering it over, or 
being too brief without real necessity. 

1°2. If God enable you, extend your charity to 
the poorest sort before you let them go ; give 
them something towards their relief, and for the 
time that is thus taken from their labours, especial- 



Chap. 8.] reformed p-ir&TOR, 421 

ly for the encouragement of them that do best ; 
and promise the rest as much when they have 
learned the catechism. I know you cannot give 
what you have not ; but I speak to those who 
can. —So much shall serve for directions to the 
younger ministers in their dealing with the more 
ignorant or carnal sort of persons. 



Chap. viii. 

Directions how to deal with self conceited opinionisls. 
To prevent or cure error and schism in our people — 
And ho«' to deal with those concerning whom we have 
cause both to hope and fear. 

IT is likely you will have some come to you 
who, when they should give an account of their 
faith, will fall into a contentious discourse. One 
will tell you that you have no true church, be- 
cause you have such bad members ; another will 
ask you by what authority you baptize infants ;» 
another will ask what scripture you have for pray- 
ing and singing psalms in a mixed assembly ; and 
another will quarrel with you because you ad- 
minister not the Lord's supper to them in the 
gesfure and manner that they desire and were 
wont to receive it, or because you exercise any 
discipline among them. With such I should think 
it best to take this course : — 

n n 



422 reformed pastor. [Chap. 8. 

1. Let them know that this meeting is appoint- 
ed for instructing the people in the principles of re- 
ligion, and you think it very wrong to pervert it 
from that use ; that as you durst not turn God's 
public worship on the Lord's day into vain and 
contentious disputings, so neither do you think it 
lawful to abuse these meetings to such purpo- 
ses. 

2. Let him know that you do not this to avoid 
any trial of the truth ; and therefore that you will 
at any other fit season endeavour to give him full 
satisfaction, but on condition only that he will sub- 
mit first to be instructed by you. 

3. Desire him to give you some account of the 
principles in the catechism ; and if he deny it, 
convince him before all, of the iniquity of his 
course. — (1.) In that it is the first principles 
that salvation most depends on ; and therefore, 
being of greatest excellence and necessity, are 
first to be taken into consideration. — (2.) In that 
it is the appointed business of this day. — (3.) It 
is orderly to begin with fundamentals, because 
they bear up the rest, which suppose them, flow 
from them, and cannot be understood without 
them.- -(4.) It is the note of a proud, vain glo- 
rious man, to make a flourish about lesser things, 
and yet either to be ignorant of the greater, or 
to scorn to give that account of his knowledge 



Uuip. 8.] REFORMED PASTOR. 423 

which the people whom he despises refuse not 
to give. 

If he yield to you, ask him only such questions 
as are of great weight, and yet strain him up a 
little higher than you do the common people ; and 
especially put him most upon defining and dis- 
tinguishing, cr expounding some terms or sen- 
tences of scripture. If they be sacramental con- 
troversies which he raises, tell him it is neces- 
sary you should be first agreed what baptism and 
the Lord's supper are, before you dispute who 
should be baptized ; and it is twenty to one he 
will not be able to tell you what the sacraments 
themselves are. A true definition of baptism of 
the Lord's supper is not so commonly given as is 
pretended. 

4. If he discover his ignorance in the cases pro= 
pounded, endeavour to humble him in the sense of 
his pride and presumption ; and let him know what 
it is, and what it signifies, to go about with a con- 
tentious, proud behaviour, while he is indeed so 
ignorant in things of greater moment. 

5. See that you be able to give him better infor- 
mation yourselves in the points wherein you find 
him ignorant. 

6. Take care that you discern the spirit of the 
man ; and if he be a settled, perverse schismatic, 
so that you see him peremptory and quite trans- 
ported with pride, and have but little hopes of hit 



424 REFORMED PASTOR. \Chap. 8, 

recovery ; then do all this that I have said openly 
before all that are present, that he may be humbled 
or shamed, and the rest confirmed. But if you find 
him godly and temperate, and that there is any 
hope of his reduction ; then see that you do all 
this privately, between him and you only, and let 
not fall any bitter words that tend to his disparage- 
ment. And thus I advise, both because we must 
be as tender of the reputation of all good men as 
fidelity to them and the truth will permit : we must 
bear one another's burdens, and not increase them ; 
and we must restore those with a spirit of meek- 
ness who fall through infirmity, remembering that 
we ourselves also may be tempted ; and also be- 
cause there is but little hope that you should ever 
do them any good, if once you exasperate them. 

7. To such erring persons as you have any hopes 
of, be sure .carry yourselves with as much tender- 
ness and love as is consistent with your duty to the 
church of God : for most of them, when they are 
once tainted this way, are so selfish and high-mind- 
ed, that they are much more impatient of reproof 
than many of the profaner sort of people. 

Musculus took this method with the Baptists, 
visiting them in prison, and relieving them, even 
while they railed at him as antichristian ; and so 
continued, without disputing with them, till they 
were convinced that he loved them ; and then they 



Chap, 8.] * REFORMED PASTOR. 425 

sought to him for advice themselves, and many 
of them were reclaimed by him. 

Having advised you what to do with such men 
in your work, I shall add a word or two of advice 
how ^you should behave towards them and deal 
with them at other times ; because the preserva- 
tion of the unity and peace of your congregations 
greatly depends on your rightly dealing with such 
as these. For, alas, it is most commonly men that 
profess to be more than usually religious in some 
particular way that are the dividers of the church 
of Christ. 

1 . I must premise that the chief part of your 
work to preserve the church from such, consists in 
preventing their fall ; for when they are once 
thoroughly infected, be the error what it will, they 
are seldom recovered. If beaten out of the error 
which they first fell into, they go to another, and 
perhaps from that to another ; but seldom return 
to the truth. 

2. It is most desirable that the minister should 
be of parts above the people, so far as to be able to 
teach and awe them, and manifest their weaknesses 
to themselves. It is greatly owing to ministers 
that our people run into so many factions, and par- 
ticularly the weakness of too many is not the least 
cause. When a proud seducer has a nimble tongue, 
and a minister is dull or ignorant, so that such a 
one can baffle him, or play upon him in the ears ©f 

n n 2 



426 REFORMED PASTER* [CJiap. 8| 

others, it brings him into contempt, and overthrow! 
the weak ; for they commonly judge him to hav< 
the best cause who has the most confident, plausi 
ble, triumphant tongue. But when a minister i* 
able to open their shame to all, it greatly tends to 
preserve the church from their infection. 

3. Frequently and thoroughly possess your peo- 
ple with the nature, necessity, and daily use of the 
great unquestionable and fundamental principles of 
religion, and of the great sin and danger of a per- 
verse zeal about the lower points before the great- 
er are well learned ; and let them be made sensi- 
ble that it is these principles, and not their smaller 
controversies, on which life or death depends. 

4. Make them sensible of the mischief of schism, 
and the great and certain obligations that lie upon 
us all to maintain the church's unityand peace. 

5. When a fire is kindled, resist if in the begin- 
ning, and make not light of the smallest spark ; and 
therefore go presently to the infected person, and 
follow him by the means hereafter mentioned, till 
he be recovered. 

6. Use a fit diversion. When a small contro- 
versy begins to endanger the church, raise a great- 
er yourself, which you have better advantage to 
manage, and which is not likely to make a division ; 
that is, let them know that there are far greater 
difficulties than theirs to be resolved, that they 
may be humbled in the sense of their ignorance^ 
and there self-conceit thereby abated. 



<p. 8.] REFORMED PASTOR. 427 

7. You must feed them not witn milk only, but 
sometimes with stronger meat ; for it exceedingly 
puffs them up with pride, when they hear nothing 
from ministers but what they know already or can 
say themselves. This makes them think them- 
selves as wise as you, and as fit to be teachers ; 
for they think you know no more than you preach : 
and this has set so many of them on preaching, be- 
cause they hear nothing from others but what they 
can say themselves ; and ministers do not set them 
such patterns as may humble and deter them from 
that work. Not that I would have you overlook 
the great fundamental truths, or neglect the weak 
and ignorant people while you are dealing with 
these ; but only when the main part of your ser- 
mons is as plain as you can speak, let a small part 
be such as shall puzzle these self-conceited men, 
that they may see they are yet but children who 
have need of milk, and that you would be more 
upon those higher points, if they were capable of 
profiting by them. 

8. See that you preach as little as may be 
against them in a direct manner, opposing their sect 
by name ; for in general they are exceedingly ten- 
der, proud, passionate, and r^sh ; and will but hate 
and fly from you as an enemy, and say you raii. 
The way therefore is, without naming them, to 
state those truths clearly and fully which must sub* 
vert their errors, and then the error will fall of 



428 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap.S. 

itself: and when you are necessitated to deal with 
them directly, do it not by short, unsatisfactory ap- 
plications, or irritating reproaches ; but, without 
naming them, take up the controversy, and handle 
it thoroughly, mildly and convincingly ; yet do not 
dwell too long upon it : but give them your full 
evidence in a few sermons, not saying all that 
might be said, but chusing out that which they can 
have least pretence to quarrel with. 

9. Be sure to keep up private meetings, draw 
them in among you, and manage them prudently. 
By this means you may keep them from dividing 
meetings among themselves, where they are at 
liberty to say what they please without controul ; 
for most professors are addicted to private meet- 
ings, which, when well ordered, are of great use 
to their edification ; and if they have not the op- 
portunity of such as they should have, they will 
attend such as they should not. In these meetings 
observe the following things : — (1.) Be sure to be 
always with them yourselves. — (2.) Let not the 
main exercises of the meeting be such as tend to 
contention, or for particular persons to shew their 
parts, but such as tend to the edification of the 
people ; not for private men to preach or expound 
scripture, nor to let every one speak to questions 
of their own proposing ; but to repeat the sermons 
which you have preached, to call upon God, and 
sing his praise. — (3.) Yet let there be some op 



Oiap. 8.] REFORMED PASTOR. 429 

portunity for them to speak, in order to learn. 
To this purpose, when you have done repeating, 
let all that are present know, if they doubt of any 
thing that has been delivered, or would have any 
thing made more plain to them, or would be re- 
solved in any thing else that conqerns the subject 
in hand, you desire them to state their doubts ; 
and so let them have the liberty of inquiring as 
learners, while you remain the teachers, and re- 
solve all the doubts yourselves, and do not set 
them on disputing, by leaving it to them to make 
the answer. — (4.) If you perceive them so exer- 
cising their own parts, that they are likely to di- 
vide if they have not opportunity to do* it, be not 
too stiff against them ; but mildly tell them it is for 
their good that you dislike it, both because it is a 
sign of a proud heart, that had rather teach than, 
learn, especially where a teacher by office is in the 
place, and where there is no necessity ; and also 
because you fear it will not tend to the edification 
of the flock, but to vain j anglings, or to excite 
others who are unfit for the work to imitate them. 
Inquire also whether they have any truth of God 
to reveal to the people that you do not reveal. If 
they have not, why should they desire needlessly 
to tell them what they are daily told by you ? If 
they have, it is necessary tha't you know and con- 
sider it before you consent it should be taught to 
your flock. But if this mild resistance satisfy not, 



430 REFORMED PASTOR. [Oiap. S 9 

let them take their course a while, rather than 
separate from you, unless they be already per- 
verse and subtle heretics ; and when they have 
done their exercises, tell them that as you give 
liberty to all to propose their doubts about what 
you have delivered, so you must take the same 
liberty that you give. Ask them first whether the 
people are more likely to be edified by having such 
variety obtruded upon them, or by fastening well 
in their memories the things they have lately 
heard ; and whether such exercises, or repetitions^ 
are most necessary : and then open the weaknes- 
ses of their discourse, the misexpounding of scrip- 
tures, the errors in matter, in method, and m 
words ; and that not in a contemptuous way, but 
as the points concerning which you remain unsat- 
satisfied. By such means as these you will quick- 
ly make them ashamed of their way, and recover 
them from it. 

10. Make use of your people's parts to the ut- 
most, as your helpers, in an orderly way, under 
your direction, or else they will make use of them 
in a disorderly and dividing way, in opposition to 
you. One great cause of schism has been, minis- 
ters contemptuously crving down private men's 
preaching, and at the same time not willing to make 
any use of the gifts which God has bestowed o*s 
such for their assistance. They have thrust them 
too far from holy things, as if they were a profane 



QlCip. 8.] REFORMED PASTOR. 431 

generation. The work is likely to go poorly on, 
if there be no hands employed in it but the minis- 
ters. God does not give any of his gifts to be bu- 
ried, but for common use. By a prudent improve- 
ment of the gifts of the more able christians we 
maj r receive much help; and prevent their abuse. 
The uses you must especially put them to are 
these. — (1.) Urge them to be diligent in teaching 
and praying with their own families, especially 
catechizing them and teaching them the meaning 
of what they learn, and setting it home upon their 
affections ; and there, if they have a mind to 
preach to their children and servants, so they un- 
dertake no more than they are able to do, I know 
no reason why they may not. — (2.) Urge them to 
step out now and then to their poor ignorant neigh- 
bours, and catechize and instruct ihem in meek- 
ness and patience from daj r to day ; and that will 
bring them more peace of conscience than con- 
temning them. — (3.) Urge them to go often to the 
impenitent and scandalous sinners about them, and 
deal with them with all possible skill and earnest- 
ness, yet also with love and patience, for the pur- 
pose of converting, reforming, and saving their 
souls. — (4.) Acquaint them with their duty of 
watching over each other in brotherly love, ad- 
monishing and exhorting one another daily ; and: 
If any w T alk scandalously, to tell them their fault 
before two or three, after the contempt of private 



432 reformed pastor. [Chap. 8. 

reproof; and if that prevail not, to tell the officers 
of the church, that they may be proceeded with as 
Christ has appointed. — (5.) At your private meet- 
ings, and on days of humiliation or thanksgiving in 
private, employ them in prayer. — (6.) If there be 
any very ignorant or scandalous sinners that you 
know of, and you cannot possibly have time your- 
selves to speak to them at that season, send some 
of those who are able and sober, to instruct the 
ignorant, and to admonish the offenders, as far as 
a private man on a message from a minister, and in 
discharge of his own duty, may go. — (7.) Let some 
of them be chosen to represent the church ; and 
to be their agents to prepare all cases of discipline 
for public audience, and to be present with the 
church-officers at appointed meetings, to hear the 
evidences that are brought in against scandalous, 
impenitent sinners ; and to discern how far they 
are valid, and how far the persons are obliged to 
make satisfaction, and give public testimony of re- 
pentance, or to be further proceeded against. — 
(8.) Let such as are fit be made subservient officers, 
1 mean deacons ; and then they may afford you 
help in a regular way, and will, by their relation, 
feel themselves obliged to maintain the unity of the 
church, and authority of the ministry, as they have 
some participation of the employment and honour; 
and so by a complication of interests, you will make 
them firmer to the church : but then, see that they 
be men fit for the place. 



CJiap. 8.] REFORMED PASTOR, 43 



;~v 



I am persuaded, had ministers thus made use of 
the parts of their ablest members, they might have 
prevented many of the divisions, and distractions, 
and apostacies that have befallen us ; for they 
would have then found work enough upon their 
hands for higher parts than theirs, without invad- 
ing the ministry, and would have seen cause to 
bewail their want of abilities, for that work which 
properly belongs to them. Experience would 
have convinced and humbled them more than our 
words can do. See that you stir them up to dil- 
igence in these works, and let them know what a 
sin it is to neglect their families, and their igno- 
rant, miserable neighbours ; and then they will be 
kept humble, and have no mind to engage in other 
work, when they find you spurring them on to that 
which is properly their own, and rebuking them 
for the neglect of it ; nor will they have any lei- 
sure, because of the constancy and greatness of 
their employment. 

11. Still keep up christian love and familiarity 
with them even when they have begun to warp ; 
and lose not your interest in them while you have 
any thoughts of attempting their recovery. 

12. If they withdraw into separate meetings, 
follow them, and be among them, if it may be, con- 
tinually. Enter a mild protest against the lawful- 
ness of those meetings ; but yet tell them that 

o o 



434 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 8„ 

you are willing to hear what they have to say, 
and to be among them for their good, if they will 
give you leave, lest they run to further evil ; and 
be not easily removed, but hold on, unless they 
absolutely exclude you. 

13. Let not the authors of the schism out-do 
you in any thing that is good ; for as truth should 
be more effectual for sanctihcation than error ; so 
if you give them this advantage, you give them 
the day ; and all your disputation will signify very 
little : for many judge only by the outward ap- 
pearance and the effects, and are not able to 
judge of the doctrine itself. They think that he 
has the best cause whqna they take to be the best 
man. 

I extend this rule both to doctrine and life. If 
a libertine preach up free grace, do you preach it 
up more effectually ; be much upon it, and make 
it more glorious on right grounds than he can do 
011 wrong. If he magnify the grace of love, and, 
in order to cry down fear and humiliation, be all 
for living in pure love to God ; do not contradict 
him, but out-go him, and preach up the love of 
God, with its motives and effects, more fully and 
effectually than he can do on the corrupt grounds 
on which he proceeds. Otherwise all the silly 
people will believe that this is the difference be- 
tween you — that he is for free grace and the love 



Qiap. 8.] REFORMED PASTOR. 435 

of God, and you are against it. So if an enthusi- 
ast talk of the Holy Ghost, and the light, and wit- 
ness, and law within us ; fall you upon that subject 
too, and preach up the office of the Holy Ghost, 
his indwelling and operations, the light, and tes- 
timony, and law within us, better than they do. 
This is the most effectual way of preserving your 
people from seduction. So if one who is for pri- 
vate men preaching come and inveigh against 
ministers for inhibiting them to use the gifts of God 
for the edification of the church, I would not im- 
mediately thwart him ; but rather persuade pri- 
vate men to use their gifts in all the ways that I 
have just now mentioned, and sharply chide them 
for not using them more ; and then, among my 
cautions, or reprehensions, touch upon his desir- 
ed abuse in the end. What I have said by way of 
example in these few points I mean in all oth- 
ers. Preaching truth is the most successful way 
of confuting error ; and I would have no seducer 
to have the glory of out-going us in any good, or 
in defending any truth. 

You should be as careful that they shall not out- 
go you in the practice of a holy and righteous life, 
as in sound and diligent teaching. Do they express 
a hatred of sin, and desire for church-reformation ? 
So must we more abundantly. Do they spend 
their time when they meet together in holy dis^ 



436 reformed pastor. - " [Chap. 8. 

course, and not in vain janglings ? Let us do so 
much more. Are they unwearied in propagating 
their opinions ? Let us be more so in propagating 
the truth. Do they condescend to the meanest, 
and creep into houses to lead captive the silliest of 
the flock ? Let us stoop as low, and be as diligent 
to do them good. Are they loving to their party, 
and contemners of the world ? Let us be lovers of 
all, and do good to all according to our power, and 
especially to the household of faith, and love an 
enemy as well as they can do a friend. Let us be 
more just than they, more merciful, more humble, 
more meek and patient ; for this is the will of God, 
that by well-doing we may put to silence the igno- 
rance of foolish men. Let us excel them in a holy, 
harmless, righteous, merciful, fruitful, heavenly 
life, as we do in soundness of doctrine ; that by 
our fruits we may be known, and the weaker sort 
of our people may see the truth when thus reflect- 
ed, who cannot see it in itself; and that our light 
may so shine before men, that they may see our 
good works, and glorify our father which is in hea- 
ven ; and that even those who obey not the word, 
may, without the word, be won by the conversation 
of their teachers. 

Three sorts of persons that we may meet with 
in our work of personal instruction have already 



Chap. 8.] REFORMED PASTOR. 437 

been considered: — (1.) The ignorant and uncon- 
verted. — (2.) The doubting, troubled believer. — 
(3.) The cavelling opinionist, or seduced schis- 
matic. The fourth sort, of whom I should speak 
in this direction are, those who by a professed wil- 
lingness to learn and obey, and by other signs give 
us some reason to think that they are penitent, and 
have a measure of faith ; and yet by their igno- 
rance and lukewarmness, or for want of a more 
steady walk, cause our fears to be as great or great- 
er than our hopes : so that we are between hope 
and fear of them, doubting the worst of their pres- 
ent safety, though we have not sufficient ground to 
charge them with being impenitent unconverted 
persons. I think half of those who come to me 
are of this sort. Now it may be a great difficulty 
with some younger ministers what they should do 
with this sort of people, where there is no suffix 
cient ground to determine of them as godly or un- 
godly, whatever their fears or hopes may be. 
With regard to such I shall only say this : — 

1. The first directions may suffice in the main 
for dealing with these, and are as much fitted to 
them as to the worst : for as we may tell a notori- 
ous sinner, 'Your case is miserable — you are a 
child of death ;' so may we tell these, ' I much 
fear your case is sad — these are ill signs — I wonder 
how you dare thus hazard your salvation.' And so 

o o 2 



438 REFORMED PASTOR. [Chap. 8* 

abating of the confidence and severity of our cen- 
sures according to the several degrees of hopeful 
good that appear in them. 

2. I would advise you to be very cautious how you 
pass hasty or absolute censures on any that you 
have to do with ; because it is not so easy a matter 
to discern a man to be certainly destitute of real re- 
ligion, who professes himself a christian, as many 
imagine it to be : and you may do the work in hand 
as well without such an absolute conclusion as with 
it. 

3. The general description of the ministerial 
work may supply the rest. I shall therefore only 
add : — (1.) Keep them close to the use of private 
and public means. — (2.) Be often with the luke- 
warm, to awaken them, and with the careless to 
admonish them. — (3.) Take the opportunity of 
sickness, which will bow their hearts aod open 
t^heir ears.*— (4.) See that they spend the Lord's 
day and order their families aright. — (5.) Draw 
them from temptations and occasions of sin. — (6.) 
Charge them to come and seek help in all great 
straits, and open their temptations and dangers be- 
fore they are swallowed up. — (7.) Strike at the 
great radical sins: self-seeking, earthly- minded- 
ness, sensuality, pride, and infidelity. Keep them 
to read the scripture and good books, and direct 
them to those that are most likely to affect and 



Chap. 8.] REFORMED PASTOR. 439 

rouze them.— (8.") Engage their godly neighbours 
to have an eye upon them. — (9.) Keep up disci- 
pline to awe them. — (10.) Maintain the life of 
grace in your own souls , that it may appear in all 
your sermons to them ; that every one who comes 
cold to the assembly may be warmed and quickened 
before he departs. 

Thus I have finished my advice, and leave yon 
to practise it. 



Page 

Advertisement by the Editor . . . . iii 

General Preface • xxv 

Address to the People ....#. lvi 

CHAP. I. 

A brief explication of the text — The doctrine and meth- 
od — The terms opened — Wherein we must take heed 
to ourselves — Reasons why we must take heed to our- 
ourselves 63 

CHAP. II. 

What it is to take heed to all the flock. It is implied that 
every flock have their own pastor or pastors ; that 
regularly the flock be oo larger than the pastors can 
oversee and take heed to them all- Of the end of this 
oversight — Of the subject of this work — Of the objects 
of it ; the unconverted ; the converted : the young and 
weak ; those under particular trials ; those declining 
in religion ; those exercised with great temptations ; 
the disconsolate ; the strong — Of the work itself. Pub- 
lic preaching ; sacraments ; public prayer, praise, and 
benediction — Oversight of the members distinctly. 
Knowing them ; instructing the ignorant ; advising them 
who seek advice ; looking to particular families ; re- 
sisting seduction : encouraging the obedient, visiting 
the sick ; comforting the distressed ; privately admon- 
ishing offenders ; public discipline by admonition, 
exhortation to open repentance, and praying for the 
offender ; assisting the penitent ; confirming, absolv- 
ing, &c. rejecting the obstinately impenitent ; receiv- 
ing the penitent into communion — The manner and 
necessity of these acts ..... 97 



442 CONTENTS. 

CHAP. III. 
Of the manner and concomitants of our work. It must 
be done purely for God — Laboriously and diligently — 
Prudently — and orderly — We must insist most on the 
greatest and most necessary things — With plainness 
and evidence — In a sense of our insufficiency and de- 
pendance on Christ — In humility and condescension — 
With a mixture o¥ severity and mildness — With affec- 
tionate seriousness — Reverently and spiritually — In 
tender love to our people — Patiently — And with an 
earnest desire of union among ourselves, and of the 
unity and peace of the church .... 162 

CHAP. IV. 

The first use for humiliation- Confession of the sins oi 
the ministry, especially of this nation — Confession of 
our present sins, particularly pride — Undervaluing the 
unity and peace of the catholic church — Want of seri- 
ous industry, and unreservedly laying out ourselves in 
the work of God — Discovered by negligent studies — 
Dull drowsy preaching — Not helping them who want — 
Neglect of acknowledged duties, viz. church-discipline 
- — The pretences refuted wtiich are brought to justify 
it — The power of worldly interests — these manifested 
by temporizing, worldly business, barrenness in work? 
of charity— The whole applied for humiliation 18v 

CHAP. V. 

Use of exhortation — Motives in the text — From our office 
and relation to all the flock — From the efficient cause, 
the Holy Ghost — From the dignity of the object— 
From the price paid for the church — A more particular 
exhortation — To see that the work of grace be advan- 
cing in our own hearts — A word to tutors and school- 
masters — Keep grace active and vigorous, and pleach 
to our own hearts first— Stir up ourselves in the work* 



CONTENTS. 443 

and do it with all our might — Keep up earnest desires 
and expectation of success — Be zealous of good works 
— Spare no cost — Maintain communion — The way 
thereto — Practise so much discipline as is certainly 
your duty — Faithfully discharge the duties of catechi- 
zing and instructing all the flock • • . 235 

CHAP. VJ. 

Reasons for this work. From the benefits — The great 
cause we have to expect abundant success if it be faith- 
fully managed. From the difficulty of this work. From 
the necessity of it — What cause of humiliation we have, 
that we have so long neglected this work — An exhor- 
tation to the faithful performance of it — With aggra- 
vations of our sin, and witnesses which will condemn 
§ae wilful neglecters of such great and plain duties as 
private instruction and discipline are — The objections 
of indolent and unfaithful ministers answered. 209 

CHAP. VII. 

Directions to the less experienced for the proper man- 
agement of this work. How to bring the people to 
submit to it — To do it in the manner that is most likely 
to insure success — For the conversion of the ungodly, 
and awakening of the secure .... 384 

CHAP. VIII. 

Directions how to deal with self-conceited opinionists. 

To prevent or cure error and schism in our people — 

And how to deal with those concerning whom we have 

cause both to hope and fear. . . . 421 



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